A QUIRKY Dorset pub is to make changes to its frontage – adding a new entrance and reducing the height of two of its roof ‘peaks’.

The Marquis of Granby, off the Chickerell Road, is well known for its zig-zag five roof peaks, currently all the same height.

The new proposals will see the roof line at either end of the building reduced in height with a new, central, entrance added to the front of the building.

Other changes, including a new paint job and signage, is also proposed, along with the addition of five brass “Westminster-style” lanterns to be fixed to the front of each section of the building and festoon lighting hung from 2.6metre posts around the perimeter of the garden.

Pub owners, Blandford-based Hall and Woodhouse, say minor changes will also be made to the small wall in front of the 1970s building with an existing pergola being improved and redecorated, with new lighting added to the underside.

Said the company in a planning statement to Dorset Council: “The proposals will support sustainable economic growth by making a substantial financial investment to improve the appearance of, and customer offer at a long-established food and drink premises, thereby safeguarding jobs. As well as providing local employment, the pub provides a valued community meeting place; the Local Plan quite rightly considers public houses to be ‘local community buildings”

It adds that the changes to the façade of the building will result in a more refined and traditional style while maintaining its symmetry.

Weymouth Civic Society seem to agree with the brewery’s aims, commenting: “We are pleased to see various improvements proposed in this planning application for the Marquis of Granby public house. The imaginative re-working of the main building gives it a more attractive and aesthetically pleasing appearance, while the boundary treatment with additional metal railings and landscape planting should enhance its setting.”

Chickerell Town Council supported the application.