A new bar is opening in Shipley with two real ale stalwarts at its helm.

Builders are converting a former furniture shop, near Fox Corner, into a cafe bar which will be open from 7am until midnight.

Salamander Brewing Company co-founder Christopher Bee owns the building and business and former Junction pub landlord Bill Arnold will manage it.

The bar will be called The Fox – a nod to its location and reminiscent of the Fox and Hounds pub which used to be in the area.

Mr Bee said: “A lot of the older people I’ve been speaking to remember the original Fox and Hounds. It’s quite a good thing to bring The Fox back to Fox Corner.”

Friday was Mr Bee’s last day at the Tong-based brewery he established with Daniel Gent in 1999, but he said he was leaving on good terms and the company would be supplying two of The Fox’s six pumps.

He said the rise in popularity of micro-brewery pubs and craft beers and finding the right location had meant the time was right to realise his ambition of opening his own bar.

“I’m excited. I’ve had my last day at Salamander so I’ll be able to concentrate fully on it from now,” he said.

The bar will offer a changing selection of real ales and continental and craft beers and eventually Mr Bee hopes to brew some beers in the building’s cellar.

Mr Arnold, who ran the Junction pub in Baildon for six years from 2004, organises beer festivals and has a stall selling beer memorabilia in Shipley’s Kirkgate market.

He said: “I think we’re going to have a nice, friendly atmosphere certainly for a whole range of people. I think Shipley’s maybe missing this sort of pub. I really do think it will be a place people will travel to.”

The pair hope to revive nightlife in that part of Shipley and think being across the road from Club Pink, which opened in June, will be mutually beneficial for both businesses.

Mr Bee is currently applying for a licence to sell alcohol with its opening planned for the end of September.