Otley’s Yew Tree Inn is about to receive a revamp costing many thousands of pounds.

Punch Taverns and landlord Barry Tomlinson are carrying out the work to revitalise the Newall Carr Road pub for the years ahead and allow it to cater for a greater number of customers.

The refurbishment will begin on February 10 and is expected to take a fortnight to complete. The changes will include:

  • Laying carpets, creating a fireplace and adding fronts to the bars
  • A refit of the toilets
  • Creating more space by removing some seating and using flexible-size tables.

Barry said: “This was a mutual decision by Punch and ourselves.

“We had a good year in 2013 and Punch helped us the year before when the recession kicked in.

“So looking ahead to 2014 we thought, ‘where should we go from here?’ and we both had a few ideas, so decided to go for a refurbishment.”

Barry is hoping he can get his oldest regular customer to officially reopen the pub following the work.

A 17th-century building that was originally a farm, the Yew Tree was converted into a pub in about 1970.