THE former Sheiling licensed premises in Largs will re-open next month with a new name and new look.

New tenants West Coast Hospitality have revealed that they are excited by plans for a new bar restaurant on Main Street - which will be called 'The First and Last'.

Working with owners Rodger Property Ltd, the former Sheiling has been undergoing a massive refurbishment in recent months.

The new look venue will host a 40 cover restaurant and public bar which will have regular live music nights and karaoke, among other events.

The premises has been granted an early licence and will serve food and drink from breakfast time.

A spokesman for West Coast Hospitality said: "We are very excited to bring this new venture to Largs.

"The premises is expected to open in September and, due to its location, will be renamed 'The First and Last'. This is because, depending on your direction, we are either the first pub on entering the town or the last pub in leaving, so we thought this was perfect. We are delighted to add Largs as a new location to our portfolio."

The restoration of the Sheiling has revealed some interesting facts about the origins of the building.

The Main Street premises has been shut in recent years and Quigley Architects moved in to remove the internal structure of the Victorian surroundings - and were surprised by what they found.

The company discovered that it was originally the foyer area of a hotel which was built in the 1850s, a time when the tourist trade was on the rise.

A spokesman said: "It was called The Glasgow Hotel, probably because it was popular with people from the city who were wanting to escape their daily grind of working in factories for a trip 'doon the watter'.

A spokesperson for the architects said: "The principal was to change the dynamic as it used to be quite a stale old man's pub. We have been involved in quite a lot of conservation historical research in a number of properties and wanted to restore it to the way it used to be when it first opened all these years ago in the Victorian period,

"We found that there was an extra metre of ceiling space, and in doing so, we have made it roomier, and we can now see the original cornice work.

"We have changed the whole face of the building and enlarged it but in doing so brought it back to the ethos of what it was originally in the 1850s.

"The good thing is that it still has a hint of what is used to be and the new owners are keen to pay homage to its historical roots."

The Main Street bar was owned by Belhaven Breweries in the early 2000s, but closed in 2010. It re-opened for a few years, before closing down again.