The Westbury Hotel, Westbury

11:45am Thursday 9th August 2007

THE Westbury Hotel is being restored to its former glory and is changing its name back to the original one from 1809.

It will be renamed The Lopes Arms which is what the pub was called when it was rebuilt following a fire.

There has been a pub on the site since the 1300s and it was originally called the St George and Dragon and later the Abingdon Arms.

But after it burnt down it was rebuilt and named after the wealthy Lopes family in Westbury.

Paul Morris, a former director of Usher's Brewery in Trowbridge, took over the pub and hotel in March and has been busy restoring it into a traditional coaching-style inn.

Mr Morris said: "We have refurbished the whole bar area and we are trying to reel the whole place back into being the traditional 200-year-old coaching inn it once was.

"It's not going to be all dark with old wood but it is going to have a more traditional feel.

"There won't be any loud music, no bad behaviour, no youngsters - what we are looking for is a more peaceful place where you could take your wife for a drink or a meal."

Mr Morris also owns the Ludlow Arms in Market Place, Westbury and has already turned around the restaurant in The Westbury Hotel.

He said: "When we arrived it took until about 2.30pm on a Sunday for the first customer to walk through the door, now we are nearly fully booked every Sunday."

Chef Helen Halbert creates evening dishes featuring red snapper, scallops, trout, steaks, stuffed chicken breasts and Cumberland sausages ranging from £6.95 to £12.95.

There is also a lunch menu with sandwiches, pasta dishes, homemade pies, tiger prawns, salads and Ploughman's.

The bar has two real ales on offer, which are currently Marston's Pedigree and Sharp's Doom Bar, and a range of lagers, keg bitters, cider, wines and spirits.

There are also seven en suite rooms from £65 a night for single occupancy or £85 a night for double occupancy.

FACT FILE:

• Meals served daily, except Tuesday lunchtime and Sunday night, between 12-3pm and 6-9pm.

• Sunday lunch offer - one course for £7.95, two courses for £9.95, three courses for £12.95.

• Free bottle of wine if you reserve a table for at least four people.

• Contact (01373) 822500.