A well known Wokingham pub is soon to undergo a serious makeover.
The Metropolitan, famous in Wokingham for hosting karaoke night every Saturday, was a popular working man's pub, the type of place you'd go and order the 'usual'.
Now the drinking house has been taken over by the owners of the Redan, another popular Wokingham pub, and will be renamed Bar FiftySix.
The old-fashioned drinking house will is to be transformed and reopened as a wine bar, with a full menu of wines and a small selection of food to compliment the drinks.
The bar will feature 56 different wines and beverages, as well as serving a small selection of beers.
James Harris, director of FiftySix, said: "The decision to make it into a wine bar was to give Wokingham the offering that it doesn't currently have.
"It's going to be all table service, tapas food, meats, cheese, high end wines and spirits, and there's going to be a beer offering.
"It's all table based, something that isn't in Wokingham at the moment. It's something new and unique for the town.
"There's hundreds of pubs in the town, but we're the only cocktail bar. It's just something that they don't have."
It isn't known where the Met's regular customers will go now, but one anonymous loyal expressed optimism.
He said: "The Met was a fantastic establishment really, it was friendly, nice and quiet, and had good beer at a reasonable price, by Wokingham's standards.
"I really like the Redan, so I'm open to it, but obviously it's very different.
"I like my beer, so I'm a bit sceptical about the fact it's a full on wine bar. But I'm willing to give it a try.
"Redoing it was a good idea, but it's just whether or not a wine bar is going to be as successful.
"There's a lot of pubs in Wokingham, but you can never have too many pubs."
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