VIDEO: Work starts to transform Doncaster town centre pub

Work is under way to transform a Doncaster town centre pub ahead of its re-opening later this year.
Workers begin removing the signs at the Old Angel.Workers begin removing the signs at the Old Angel.
Workers begin removing the signs at the Old Angel.

Builders have been removing the signs of the former Old Angel in Cleveland Street while interior work on the pub - formerly Yates's Wine Lodge - has also begun.

The pub closed it doors in June after being sold by owners Wetherspoon earlier this year.

Workers begin removing the signs at the Old Angel.Workers begin removing the signs at the Old Angel.
Workers begin removing the signs at the Old Angel.
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However, the pub is set to re-open with a new look later this year after being given a massive refurbishment and overhaul by its new owners.

Blackpool-based Amber Taverns has snapped up the bar and the pub is understood to be shutting its doors for seven months while the redevelopment takes place.

Approximately 20 staff from the Old Angel were redeployed to other Wetherspoon pubs across Doncaster including the Red Lion in the Market Place, Gate House in Priory Walk as well as the firm's pubs in Mexborough and at Robin Hood Airport.

The pub, on the corner of Cleveland Street and Printing Office Street, originally opened in the summer of 1997 as Yates's Wine Lodge.

The Old Angel before its closure.The Old Angel before its closure.
The Old Angel before its closure.
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The distinctive building, with its turreted tower, was built on the site of a row of shops, which were demolished to make way for the new watering hole.

The row was known as King Charles Terrace - and a garden in the street was said to have contained a pear tree, planted by King Charles I, hence the name.

The Old Angel was one 34 across the country put up for sale by the Wetherspoon chain last November.

Commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE handled the disposal of the pubs which it said have an average weekly turnover of more than £22,000 per week.

Workers begin removing the signs at the Old Angel.Workers begin removing the signs at the Old Angel.
Workers begin removing the signs at the Old Angel.
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A spokesman for Amber Taverns said that plans for the pub were "still in discussion" and added: "All I can confirm at this stage we will be investing in the business and it will remain a pub."

The chain has 107 pubs across the north west, north east, Midlands and Wales and already owns The Black Bull in Doncaster Market Place and The Tumbler in Edlington.

Earlier this year, journalists at the Doncaster Free Press, which has its premises next door to the pub, had to work from the bar after being locked out of their office.

Staff decamped to the bar to work in March after finding the front door buckled and leaving them stranded outside while police and a locksmith investigated the incident.