A NEW pub is opening in Ipswich next week to replace the former Yates's Wine Lodge.The pub, The Robert Ransome, opens on Friday May 1 on the site of the former wine bar on Tower Ramparts.

A NEW pub is opening in Ipswich next week to replace the former Yates's Wine Lodge.

The pub, The Robert Ransome, opens on Friday May 1 on the site of the former wine bar on Tower Ramparts.

Wetherspoon has spent �615,000 redeveloping the pub during a six-week building project.

The Robert Ransome will be managed by Ian Andrews, who was previously at The Cricketers, also part of the Wetherspoon chain, on the other side of Crown Street.

Mr Andrews said: “I am looking forward to welcoming customers into the pub and am confident that it will be a good addition to Ipswich's social scene.”

The opening will not affect the Cricketers on the other side of the road which will remain a more traditional pub.

The new pub takes its name from one of Ipswich's early entrepreneurs, Robert Ransome, who established an iron works in the town in 1789. During the 19th century, his business was expanded by his sons and grandsons, who exported agricultural machinery around the world.

The pub, which will specialise in real ales, serving a wide range of beers, including those from local and regional brewers, will be open from 9am until midnight, from Monday to Thursday, 9am until 2am on Friday and Saturday, and 11am until 11pm on Sunday.

It will be wheelchair accessible and have a specially adapted toilet for customers with disabilities.

There will be two bars, one on the ground floor, with a dance floor area and one on the first floor, and also a DJ at the pub each Friday and Saturday from 8pm.

Photos and information relating to the history and characters of the area will be displayed in the pub.

Will this improve Ipswich's town centre? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.