Kelley Bowers has taken the reins of the once-troubled pub, The New Inn, in Sarum Hill in addition to her landlady duties at the King of Wessex, in Winchester Road. The idea is to give the pub its own distinctive identity.

Plans include live music nights every other Saturday evening focusing on giving local talent a stage to make their own and making every Friday night at the pub specifically LGBT focused.

The Gazette reported last week that a fifth of pubs in Basingstoke and Deane had closed since 2010.

Rounded figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that of the roughly 100 public houses and bars operating across Basingstoke and Deane in 2010, 20 had closed by 2017.