8:55am Wednesday 10th February 2010
By Lewis Cowen
The Bear Hotel in Devizes is undergoing another change of direction with the addition of a sports bar complete with widescreen TVs showing live sporting events.
Until now the hotel’s Cellar Bar has been kept for jazz performers but it is undergoing a revamp and when it re-opens the space will have a dual purpose. Friday and Saturday evenings will still be given over to live music but at other times sport will prevail.
New licensees Gordon Straker and Andrew Fleming have also applied for permission to demolish the wall separating the two sections of the Lawrence Room, the buffet restaurant at the rear of the hotel.
Mr Straker said: “We have had the conservation officer from Wiltshire Council in to look at our plans to remove the wall and it doesn’t look like causing a problem.
“But losing the wall will open it all up and make it more user friendly. We will be installing a theatre kitchen, so the public will be able to see the chef cooking steaks and so on.”
In the cellar builders are also moving the bar to the far end, leaving more room for musicians to perform.
Mr Straker said: “The whole thing looks a lot better. You can actually see the artists.”
While the cellar is closed music goes on in the ballroom and the front bar. The partners say they are unsure exactly how much all the proposed changes will cost, although they have already spent about £30,000 replacing ovens in the kitchen.
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