PUB operator JD Wetherspoon is to open its new pub in Chester on Monday, October 27 – following a £1.4 million development project.
It has spent the past five months developing the new-look pub on the site of the former Mansion House pub in Love Street. The site had been unoccupied for 12 months.
Fifty new jobs are being created at the pub, The Forest House, which will be managed by Helen Cazaly.
The pub, housed in a grade II listed building, takes its named from the Georgian-era Forest House which stood on the site in the 18th century.
The building has since housed a Co-op store, dance hall, tea rooms, nightclubs and auction rooms.
The Forest House will be wheelchair accessible and have a specially-adapted toilet for people with disabilities.
The pub will be open from 9am until midnight (Sunday until Tuesday inclusive) and from 9am until 2am (Wednesday until Saturday inclusive).
It will feature a dance floor and DJ booth. There will be entertainment (including live bands, DJ nights and karaoke) four nights a week.
Children, accompanied by an adult, will be welcome in the pub throughout the week until 9pm, with last orders for food at 8pm. As a condition of the licence, both the adult and child must order a meal.
Smoking will be permitted on the pub’s balcony.
Photos and information boards relating to the history and characters of Chester will be displayed in the pub.
Manager Helen Cazaly said: “I am looking forward to welcoming customers into The Forest House. I am confident that the pub will be a good addition to Chester’s social scene.”
Wetherspoon has an existing pub in Chester, The Square Bottle in Foregate Street, which opened in September 1995.
