WESTON’S ‘most beautiful, yet most neglected’ part of town is set for a major boost with a bar and restaurant re-opening more than a year after it closed.

Weston Mercury: Claudio De Carlo, his partner Lucy White and his sons Luca-Loui and Beau-Gian outside The Imperial in South Parade. He is reopening the restaurant in mid-April.Claudio De Carlo, his partner Lucy White and his sons Luca-Loui and Beau-Gian outside The Imperial in South Parade. He is reopening the restaurant in mid-April. (Image: Archant)

The Imperial Brasserie will welcome customers next month for the first time since New Year’s Day last year.

The brasserie name will return, with its new manager saying Butcombe Brewery ‘offended’ regular customers by saying such a title did not befit Weston when it dropped it in 2012.

Claudio De Carlo said: “Butcombe Brewery has a good name but they took on a good running business and tried to change it.

“It said Weston isn’t ready for a brasserie and needs another pub but I don’t think that’s right.

“Local people who came here and loved quality food were offended. Weston isn’t just a beer drinking place.”

The building, in South Parade, is still owned by Mike and Chris Sanders but will re-open under new management after Butcombe gave up its lease.

The brewery took on running the site in March 2012, dropping the brasserie name, saying it was ‘too formal’ for Weston. However it was closed just nine months later.

Butcombe negotiated to end its lease early this month, paving a way for the Sanders family to offer Mr De Carlo the chance to resurrect the old building.

He was manager and executive chef when Sanders ran it, prior to Butcombe’s involvement.

He believes his modern English and Mediterranean mix will prove a hit with diners.

Mr De Carlo said: “Weston is crying out for a great restaurant.

“I can’t compete with chains but I don’t want to. I’m not a Wetherspoons or a two-for-one place. I want to have the best roast dinners on a Sunday.”

Mr De Carlo plans to work with local suppliers to provide the freshest and ‘highest quality’ meals made from scratch, while keeping it a competitive price.

Mike Sanders said a successful Imperial Brasserie was good news for the whole town.

He said: “If the people of Weston rally round and use it, then it will be a success.

“It’s a lovely place. Weston needs a nice eatery especially in that part of town.

“It is the part of Weston that is most beautiful and yet most neglected. It’s an absolute gem surrounded by brilliant places like the Royal Hotel that has won awards.”

Building work is ongoing to improve the interior but Mr De Carlo plans to re-open it on April 15.

Roof repairs have also fixed a water leak which developed while it was closed.

Tom Newell, of Butcombe Brewery, said: “The lease has gone back to the freeholders Chris and Mike Sanders after we exercised a break clause in the lease.

“We wish them all the best because it’s a lovely building, it just didn’t work out for us.”