A BACUP pub which closed for a facelift when the new owner took over at the end of last year has finally reopened its doors.

Stuart Schofield took over the Welcome Inn in South Street last September.

The former Yorkshire fish fryer spent the next few months doing up the pub before he opened last month.

The pub, formerly the Joiner's Arms, has been fully redecorated, with new seats, windows and bar.

Stuart ran a fish and chip shop for 30 years but he is no novice to the pub game. He was a pub tenant 12 years ago and now owns two others - the Ring of Bells in Ashton-under- Lyne and the Royal Oak in Radcliffe.

Stuart said: "I opened a pub because I was putting on too much weight working in a chippy, I was three or four stone overweight. I couldn't help putting chips in my mouth. It's coming off now, thankfully."

He said the Welcome is aimed primarily at adults and young children are not allowed through the doors.

The pub has a free buffet on a Sunday and Stuart hopes to start pool and darts teams and a quiz night in the near future.