A POPULAR Stoke Heath pub will be closed for several weeks to undergo a huge facelift after being bought by new owners.

Black Country Ales has purchased the Hanbury Turn pub from Punch Taverns - and the brewery has promised major changes.

The Turn, situated on the junction of Hanbury Road and Redditch Road, has been a hive for live music in recent years.

But the new owners are keen to turn it back into a 'traditional' inn with a focus on 'real ale and quiet conversation'.

Builders are already on site to begin 'a major refurbishment' and the pub is expected to reopen in the spring, but with no date set as of yet.

Angus McMeeking, director of Black Country Ales, told the Advertiser: "Black Country Ales has a small micro-brewery and runs old-fashioned and traditional pubs dedicated to real ale.

"Alongside our own beers we will sell a huge and ever-changing selection of cask beers from brewers all over the country.

"There will be a very limited food offer – freshly made cheese and ham cobs, pork pies, etc, to keep hunger at bay – but essentially the pub will be about real ale, quiet conversation and companionship."

Black Country Ales are looking to recruit a management couple to run the pub.

Anyone interested should contact Anthony@blackcountryales.co.uk or visit Facebook.com/blackcountryales.

The Hanbury Turn's purchase price has not been disclosed but the pub was on the market at a guide price of £350,000 with estate agents Savills.

Black Country Ales runs more than 30 pubs across the Midlands and while the majority are in the area the firm is named after, they have branched further afield.

Perhaps its highest-profile pub is The Wellington in Birmingham city centre but the firm also runs inns in Shifnal, Stafford, Burton, Shrewsbury, Leicester and Rugby to name a few towns.

The Turn will become the firm's fifth Worcestershire pub, along with The Hollybush in Stourport, The Imperial Tavern in Worcester, The Real Ale Tavern in Bewdley and The Cross at Finstall.

Black Country Ales took over The Cross at Finstall in January 2018 and, following refurbishment, the pub was voted CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) Pub of the Year for Worcestershire 2019.