A Sandbach town centre pub which underwent a massive makeover is a finalist in this year's Northern Design awards.

The Swan & Chequers in Hightown had a complete revamp before reopening in the summer and is a finalist in the Northern Design 2023 awards.

The historic pub started out life as an old corn exchange dating back to the late 1800's and is now unrecognisable following the substantial investment by Robinsons Brewery.

Licensees, Matt and Jaki Hurst, fell in love with the pub when they saw the mood-boards for the revamp.

"It is right up our street. We are so proud to be the new licensees of this establishment and wish Duncan Thorpe the Senior Designer at Robinsons all the very best of luck for the awards," said Jaki.

The internal walls were removed to create a large open-plan bar area with plenty of natural light and columns were added to the main bar area stylised with cast iron Corinthians capitals and floating poser tables.

The interior has been designed with a British mid-century era in mind, paying homage to the site's earlier links to Winston Churchill's speech on the balcony in 1945.

The design scheme also features influences from Victorian London's underground and the old industrialised city, featuring brown chequered tile work and bespoke designed mid-century pendant lighting.

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To accentuate the London underground theme, you'll also notice the fixed seating to be designed to mirror the seat design of the old underground tube trains using the same fabrics used on the 1950s metropolitan tube line, with overhanging old railway pendant lighting.