A SHERSTON pub which has been fighting a council planning order opened to customers on Friday.

For the last six months Pete Brock has been renovating The Carpenters Arms on the edge of Sherston but his plans hit a snag when Wiltshire Council told him to remove new rendering he had put on the front of the pub.

The landlord filed for retrospective planning permission and his application received more than 25 letters of support but a decision has yet to be made.

Mr Brock said: "All I can say is the council has come out and we are looking to resolve the problem. The parish council put something up in the village and they were so supportive.

"I really want to thank everyone for their support. I haven't had anybody say anything negative to me since the planning and everyone seems to be really behind it, so it's fantastic."

The Carpenters Arms is now open serving drinks, and plans to serve food from Monday with a variety of deals on offer.

Mr Brock added: “We opened at 6 o’clock on Friday so I turned up at half past thinking no one was going to be there that early and as I pulled up there were cars parked all down the other side of the street and I thought typical, someone is having a party on the same night we open!

“When I opened the door, there were about 350 people in the pub and I couldn’t even get in – I had to go round the back. It was fantastic and they literally drank us dry so I spent most of Saturday driving round trying to my some more.

“I really want to thank everyone for their support – it has been unbelievable. Also a big thank you to the team who worked this weekend because without them this could not have happened."