A popular community pub has been taken over by a small Brighton chain.

The George Beard in Gloucester Road, Brighton, has been bought by Dominic McCartan, owner of The Hop Poles and The Coopers Cask.

The three-storey building in the North Laine area started life as a police station before being turned into a pub.

It has an upstairs room which is currently used as a meeting place for a number of community groups including CAMRA.

Mr McCartan plans to extensively refurbish the pub and proposals include a bakery and a restaurant upstairs.

However, in the short term Mr McCartan said he would concentrate on building up the pub's food trade.

He also plans to talk to customers about what they want before committing himself to any major redesign.

Mr McCartan said: "Ultimately it is up to the customers whether a pub succeeds or fails so we always make a point of consulting them about everything.

"This is my biggest premises to date and I am very excited by the prospect of taking on the George Beard."

The current tenant, Ivor Potter, will leave the pub tomorrow.