Thomas Hardy Dorchester hotel closes for revamp
- Published
It is hoped the King's Arms in Dorchester will reopen in early 2017
A Georgian hotel that featured in one of Thomas Hardy's novels has closed for a 12-month refurbishment.
The Grade II*-listed King's Arms in Dorchester, Dorset, was the coaching inn setting in the author's The Mayor of Casterbridge.
It went into receivership in January and has now been bought by Draco Pub Company.
The firm, which has renovated three other listed coaching inns, said it hoped it would reopen in early 2017.
The hotel was the coaching inn setting in Thomas Hardy's novel The Mayor of Casterbridge
Rob Greaco, from the Somerset-based company, said the hotel had been "heavily modified over the years".
He added the revamp aimed to "reinstate some of the character which we feel has been lost".
A planning application is due to be submitted for listed building consent and it is hoped building work will begin next summer.
A plaque on the building from the Dorchester Heritage Committee and Dorset County Museum notes its links to Thomas Hardy