THE face of Monmouth's Agincourt Square is changing as work starts on converting the Punch House Tavern and the Bull public house into an hotel.
The work, which began this week, will give much-needed accommodation in the square once again and restore its coaching-inn tradition.
The Beaufort Arms has been converted into apartments in recent times, while the King's Head is still open but no longer offers accommodation.
The work follows the purchase by the Cardiff brewer S.A. Brain of the two premises, which retail manager Angela Donaldson said would in future be known as the Punch House Hotel.
"We will be offering 11 bedrooms, all en-suite. We decided on the move after a lot of inquiries from visitors for local accommodation – summer is very tourist-oriented in Monmouth – and we agreed we would create something that a town like this was worth."
She said she could not reveal the overall cost of the work but it was "a major investment" by the company which would provide an asset for the people of Monmouth when it opened in 11 months' time.
Originally the Wine Vaults, the hostelry was flourishing by 1769.
"Punch became a fashionable drink at the end of the 17th century," it states in the "Inns and Friendly Societies of Monmouth" booklet.
"After the Acts of 1690-1701, places where spirits could be sold without a licence were called punch houses or dram shops."
The Wine Vaults became the Punch House in 1896. The bull, no less historic although it will disappear with the new work, was the setting for the buglers to sound a fanfare which summoned the judges to the assizes.