A grade II listed pub left ‘butchered’ by the previous owner has been refurbished and reopened under new management.

The Fleur de Lys in Dorchester was taken over by Bishops Court Farm in February and officially opened on May 5 in time for the coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey.

The pub has been given a major refurbishment with a new bar and overall design.

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Commercial manager at Bishops Court Farm Diane Kruczko, who came up with the design of the pub and bar, said they had ‘put the character back into it.’

Ms Kruczko, who grew up in Dorchester and drank at the Fleur de Lys as a young adult, remembers the pub as a traditional establishment that was a thriving part of the village.

She said: “When I was 19 or 20 that was my local pub. It was somewhere for adults young and old. It’s always been a village pub.

Oxford Mail: Keith Ives opened the Fleur de Lys pub, which has been newly refurbished, on May 5

“In those days before the internet, people were far more social and the pub was the way people would meet up and talk and exchange views. They would play games like Aunt Sally or some of the older ones would play draughts and it was their down time.

“It was in the days when pubs where pubs. A lot of pubs now have become like restaurants and bistros.

"All these beautiful little countryside pubs on the river have been bought up by conglomerates and turned into big money-making restaurants. Proper pubs are a dying breed.”

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Ms Kruczko moved away from the village before returning to work at the farm, which is set on a 300-acre site and is home to 60 alpacas alongside a host of horses, goats, pigs, and sheep.

She said that when she returned, she found the previous owner of the pub had ‘butchered’ it.

Oxford Mail: Keith Ives opened the Fleur de Lys pub, which has been newly refurbished, on May 5

She said: “The last person who managed it decided to change the name, rip out all the original features in there such as the pews and the internal porch and the original copper hood to the fireplace.”

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Keith Ives, owner of Bishops Court Farm, decided to buy the establishment, with the intent of restoring it to the community-based pub that existed long ago.

Ms Kruczko said: “The motive behind it was to give the villagers back their pub which they have missed and mourned and were upset about how it has been treated over the last few years.

“We made it an old English pub and put the character back into it. The villagers are ecstatic and very happy about it.”