A NEW pub manager hopes to bring “vitality and character” to Witney by installing a town centre seating area.

Kerrianne Tracey, who took over The Eagle Vaults three months ago, hopes to put five tables and 16 chairs outside the Market Square pub.

This follows a £60,000-plus facelift over the past week, with pool tables and televisions removed and new fittings installed.

Miss Tracey said: “We want to make it a lot more dining and family-friendly.

“It is now a lot more classy, a lot more traditional and I love it. For the first time, I am proud to say I run The Eagle Vaults.”.

The pub manager added: “It was very drink-orientated before – we sold 300,000 pints last year alone, which is an awful lot.

“I want to get away from everyone turning their noses up at The Eagle Vaults.

“I want it to be a place where people want to come.”

She said the pub would also move away from “irresponsible drinking” and a £1 Bacardi Breezer deal had been scrapped.

But she said the revamp was also “a little” influenced by the £3m investment of the nearby former Marlborough Hotel – now The Blue Boar – and the February opening of Wetherspoon in the town.

A planning application has been submitted to West Oxfordshire District Council to install the seating outside the front entrance of the pub.

West Oxfordshire District Council will make the final decision.