Breweries, pub chains and restaurants are spending more than £1m revamping premises in Abingdon as competition for customers hots up in the popular riverside holiday town.

The most radical project involves the Ock Mill pub and restaurant in Marcham Road, part of the Whitbread chain of pubs and restaurants.

Richard Labrosse, manager at the Ock Mill pubThe former Beefeater re-opens on Friday, August 24, after work costing more than £350,000.

Manager Richard Labrosse said: "We are pleased that the Ock Mill has become one of the company's Out&Out establishments. The old building offers such a wonderful atmosphere."

Not far away, a restaurant and cocktail bar opens next month in Ock Street. It is being developed by former night club owner and hairdresser Chris Christodoulou and his father-in-law.

Building work and fittings at the Grade Two listed building, a former lingerie shop, have cost more than £200,000.

In the High Street the new-look Thai Orchid restaurant - the sixth in a chain in Oxfordshire and Warwickshire run by Thongchai Karmakham - re-opens after a three-month closure and a £35,000 refurbishment.

Mr Karmakham said: "Abingdon is a nice town and I am confident our restaurant will be well received. We are the only Thai restaurant here and we are not afraid of competition."

The Don Giovanni Italian restaurant in Bath Street is due for improvements in the autumn and the former Beehive pub in Stert Street, sold last week for an estimated £200,000, is to become a restaurant.

Another big player in Abingdon keen to attract more customers is brewer Greene King. The Black Swan pub in Bath Street re-opened this month after a refurbishment costing £125,000.

A similar amount was spent by Greene King in June when the Boundary House pub-restaurant in north Abingdon underwent a refurbishment, along with the White Horse in Ock Street.

The Blue Boar pub in Bath Street, owned by the Punch Taverns group, has redecorated its lounge and conservatory and carried out improvements to the courtyard, adding decking and patio furniture.

In September, the Mill House pub and restaurant on the riverside in Bridge Street is due for redecoration and improvements costing nearly £100,000.

And later this year, Ock Street Conservative Club plans a £110,000 refurbishment.

**Picture: Antony Moore