A POPULAR Chorley pub-restaurant is undergoing a £250,000 makeover.

Work is taking place at the former Dante’s at the Halfway House on Preston Road, Clayton le Woods, which is being transformed as the Halfway House pub and restaurant set to re-open on November 2.

Richard Tanner, took over the hostelry in April in partnership with JW Lees pub chain and he is excited about the development.

He said: “It is a great opportunity.

“We have decided to strip it back to the original brickwork of the building and we even found an old fireplace which we are going to use.

“We are keeping the wood-fired stove for the pizzas. I don’t want to lose that as it offers something different to restaurants in the area.

“We are going away from the Mediterranean food that it had before.

Richard has high hopes for the business.

He said: “I am very excited. My background is working with re-branding and with a lot of concepts.

“Great service is key and we also want to have great food with a top atmosphere.

“We have been working on it for four weeks from clearing out to fitting.

“I have retained most of the staff and I am looking to employ full-time bar tenders.

“We are trying to keep the original features of the building and there was an original fireplace which we will be using.

“At the minute we are on schedule and with a date for opening we will be pushing forward to be ready for it.”

Mr Tanner says they are still going to be continuing catering for functions and groups of people.

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