AN ART gallery is to return to Poole after 10 years - and will move into a building that housed one of the town's most historic pubs.

JJ Murphys, just off Poole Quay in Old Orchard, shut two years ago after being earmarked as part of the second phase of Poole Quay development.

The public house had opened its doors to local drinkers for more than 200 years, first as The Swan in 1789 and later as the Flying Boat.

The outside is decorated with Poole Pottery tiles and it is believed some bearing the original pub emblem of two swans lie underneath the timber facade.

Since the developer of Poole Quay, Orb, ran into financial trouble last year the building has lain empty. Now there are plans to turn the premises into an art gallery.

Michael Ludlow-Price will lease the building from Hunter Simmonds Properties and hopes to sell paintings and sculptures of well-known artists from the Quay Gallery.

He said: "There used to be a Quay Gallery on Poole Quay 10 years ago. It was one of the biggest and most successful in the West Country.

"We will have a mixture of paintings, limited editions ranges, sculpt-ures and figurines."

He owned the original Quay Gallery - which opened in 1983 and closed in 1996 - but had to give it up for ill health.

He has submitted a planning application to knock out a window and brickwork in the old pub and build a customer entrance for the gallery, which will be accessible for those in wheelchairs.

Work on the inside of the building - including knocking walls down - will also have to be done to make it suitable for its new use.

Poole council will decide whether to allow the changes in the next few weeks and so long as permission is given, Mr Ludlow-Price hopes to open the gallery in spring 2005.

First published: October 28