Chris Maclean: Now we can start rebuilding

This morning I signed off the agreement for the screen dividers to be reinstated in the pub.

The bar here is an enormous Victorian monument to that age and originally had wood and glass dividing screens to break the space up into five distinct areas. There were two private bars, a large public bar and a hotel bar. In the sixties the first of the screens went and, as the fashions of the times dictated, it wasn't long before the others followed.

What was left was a huge expanse which, on a busy day, has the capacity to accommodate hundreds of people. But, sadly in today's climate, those occasions are not frequent enough. Besides, without the screens the pub presented itself as an ideal candidate, with its high ceilings, for the introduction of televisions and televised sport.

It is easy to map out the progressive changes that took this once glorious bar down the road to its destitute state. For the past five months we have resolutely stuck to our plan to reinstate it to its former glory. Tellies, fruit machines, alcopops, vending machines, bar stools and all the ephemera of that culture were destroyed. Now we can start rebuilding.

The screens have been tastefully designed to blend in and enhance the character of the place. They will provide little pockets of sanctuary for those who don't like drinking in a barn or who seek a little privacy.

It will also provide areas where people can gather comfortably at the bar and engage in good genial conversation. This is something I have missed for a while.