A PUBLIC exhibition that reveals designs to bring back a former pub has brought the community together, as residents remember the fond memories they once experienced there.

The exhibition was held at the former Café Rouge building on Wednesday, March 6 and showcased plans to revert it back to the former 19th century pub, The Rose.

The Wokingham Town Mayor, Councillor Julian McGhee-Sumner was amongst those to came and see the proposals.

The suggested work includes redesigning parts of the main building, reinstating the fireplace, stripping away some of the internal additions to reveal historic fabric and adding in a café to the court yard.

The new owners of the site, Oakman Inns hope the exhibition provided an opportunity for the community to see their design and refurbishment plans.

Malcoln Schooling, the property Director at Oakman Inns believes the public are being very supportive.

He said: “We have had tremendous feedback from all the visitors to our planning exhibition, from local groups such as CAMRA and The Wokingham Society to Town and Borough Councillors who are all delighted to see it will be called The Rose once again.”

The new owners already received and responded to feedback from the community to decide the pubs name.

They originally wanted to call it The Rose Revived but settled for The Rose following public opinion.

Mr Schooling was pleased to see the community come together to remember the former pub.

He added: “ We had some 200 visitors, many of whom left very supportive comments and feedback on various design ideas.

“Delightfully, several generations of Wokingham families shared fond memories from the days when it was a pub, but our team was also pleased by the high number of the younger Wokingham generation who dropped in to discover more.

“We’ve had almost 100% support for the principal design concept of carefully balancing the new architectural elements such as the use of glass in the courtyard with the reinstatement and restoration of many of the original features of the building."

Directors and senior managers were on hand to answer questions from the public and the application for the proposals has now been submitted to Wokingham Borough Council.

Its hoped that the planning process will run smoothly and the pub will be open in time for Christmas.