A Victorian hearse has undergone a £30,000 revamp for those who want to go out in style.

Funeral directors' HD Tribe ordered the restoration of the horse-drawn coffin-carrier after being told it was falling to bits.

Now the magnificent black vehicle has pride of place outside the firm's headquarters in Broadwater Road, Broadwater, Worthing.

Company officials bought the Marston hearse about 50 years ago when the former landlord of the Cricketers Arms pub in Broadwater told them it was up for auction.

Since then it has carried hundreds of people to their final resting place, pulled by two and sometimes four horses wearing ceremonial black head plumes.

The firm recently asked expert boat builder Laurie Smart, from Burgess Hill, to take a look at the vehicle and he found the chassis was ravaged by woodworm.

He stripped it down to the shell and replaced all the fixtures and fittings at a cost of £30,000.

Company director William Warren, 35, said: "Many years ago the landlord of the Cricketers told us a hearse in a very decrepit condition was up for auction so we went along and bought it.

"At the time we had skilled craftsmen such as carpenters working here and they restored it. The hearse has been parked outside and used for funerals for about 50 years.

"But two years ago it started to get very rickety and we made a decision to get it restored professionally. When Laurie started to restore it he discovered it had woodworm and it just fell apart.

"All we were left with was the metal chassis and he had to rebuild it almost from scratch. Laurie reckoned there were only three people in the country with the skills to rebuild it.

"The whole of the inside has been painted with beautiful flowers by a girl who normally does travelling caravans. The artwork is fantastic."

Now the hearse is back outside HD Tribe, receiving admiring glances from thousands of passers-by on the main route into Worthing town centre.

Mr Warren said it was hired about 15 times a year by relatives who preferred a traditional exit for their loved ones instead of a Daimler limousine.

He added: "It is quite a spectacle and a lot of people look at it as a tradition. It is a very nice way to go and can sometimes lighten the occasion.

"People come up to pat the horses and feed them apples. It makes things a lot easier to cope with on the day for a lot of people. After the refit I reckon it will last another 100 years."