Rock lovers will have a place to call their own once again as the city’s only pub dedicated to heavy metal music reopened tonight.

The Gloucester Arms pub in Friars Entry, off Gloucester Green, opened its doors to drinkers for the first time since April.

At the time, regulars feared the city had lost its only Rock pub when tenants Punch Taverns pulled out of the site. However, Edward Schwab, who has taken on the lease from the pub’s owner St John’s College, has promised it will be business as usual.

Mr Schwab, who runs the Old Angel Pub Company and runs another Rock pub in Nottingham, said: “Every town needs a Rock pub. When we saw that it had closed down, we knew that we had to step in and do something.

“We really want to keep it the same. I don’t think anyone wants to see it any different.

“We just want to give Oxford its Rock pub back.

“We’ve got an even bigger juke box with more music the regulars will love.”

A pub has stood on the site for the past 200 years, but in recent times has become a popular haunt for bikers and heavy metal fans.

New pub manager Richard Daniels said: “I’ve had people knocking on the window asking when we are going to reopen.

“I’m really looking forward to meeting with the Oxford rock crowd. But everyone, not just rockers, is welcome here.”