AN HISTORIC canal wharf warehouse has become probably the first new pub to open in a Wiltshire village for many years.

It has opened on the first floor of the 200-year-old building on Pewsey Wharf and it's called the Waterfront Inn.

Early indications, said owner and licensee Graham Lee, is that the venture is going to be a big success.

In recent decades the trend has been for village pubs to close and Wiltshire has lost many including two in Pewsey, the Phoenix and Alfreds.

Mr Lee, who formerly ran a narrowboat charter fleet in Trowbridge, moved to Pewsey Wharf in 2001 when he opened the Waterfront tea rooms in the ground floor of the old wharf warehouse.

The upstairs was used for the Boatmans Locker, a boating accessories and chandlery shop run by Joe and Mary Barker. Mr and Mrs Barker have taken over the ground floor tea rooms which they have renamed the Boatmans Rest which is also open in the evening as a restaurant.

The Waterfront Inn has views over the Kennet and Avon Canal and to Martinsell Hill beyond.