A CLOSED riverside pub on the banks of the River Wye in Hereford will re-open this summer.

The Saracens Head on St Martin's Street has been bought by three city-based brothers who hope to turn the pub into a popular real ale venue.

Paul Rone, a Cabinet member with Herefordshire Council, says he and brothers David and Mark, who make up Rone Properties Ltd, are excited about the venue's potential.

"It's about having the confidence to invest in your home town," he said.

"There's a buzz about Hereford at the moment."

Mr Rone said the pub could form a trio of alternative city centre venues with the recently re-opened Left Bank opposite and the Black Lion on the other side of Bridge Street.

He will also tailor it to a slightly different audience.

"Herefordshire has a lot of fantastic ale and cider producers," he said.

"It is no good trying to capture the current city centre market, but there is a boom in real ales at the moment.

"We hope to make it a classic real ale venue which will hopefully be a recipe for success."

The pub has been closed since last spring and had sold a couple of times but the sales fell through.

It is set to be "sympathetically restored" in time for the summer, with the opening linking in with a couple of Herefordshire festivals.

"We are now looking for the right person to come forward and run it," said Paul Rone.

"We hope to have it open for the Beer on the Wye Festival and the Three Choirs Festival."

He confirmed the pub name would remain with an identical layout as before, but admitted there is a lot of work to do.

"It does need a huge amount of money spent on it," he said.

"It's a major investment but we're confident it'll be worth it."