A HISTORIC Southwick pub has been given a new lease of life after being taken over.

The Farmhouse, which is thought to be around 360 years old, became a pub in 1974 but in recent years had become in need of improvements.

Owner Wadworth Brewery is now leasing it to Janet Harris and Adam Glass, who formerly ran The George at Lacock and have 33 years of experience in the trade between them.

The business partners left that pub after Wadworths decided to run it in-house.

Ms Harris said: “There’s a lot of work to be done, but we are confident we can make it work.

“We have always wanted to run our own pub and when this opportunity came up we felt that this was the time to do it.”

The spacious pub has a bar area, restaurant, garden, four bedrooms and a function room which seats 150 people.

The tenants want to introduce a theme linking the pub to the village’s connection with farming, in the same way that The George at Lacock has a photography link to William Fox Talbot, the man credited with creating the first photographic negative in the village.