A BOARDED up pub which was formerly the iconic centrepiece of Marlow High Street will be back in business before the end of this month.

The Chequers – which was labelled an 'eyesore' since closing two years ago - will reopen with new tenants.

The Free Press exclusively revealed in February that The Chequers was set for a summer resurrection.

Building work is close to being completed at the pub, which is a listed building.

Now its owners have confirmed it is nearly ready to reopen.

Don Bridgman, chief executive of WH Brakspear and Sons, which owns the building told The Free Press: “We are really pleased and delighted really looking forward to it being reopened.

“Hopefully people will see it as restoring a facility that has been missing for too long in the centre of Marlow and we are and we are keen to get that back and running again and give a focal point to the High Street.

“It will add a vibrancy.

“It's really going to look like a high quality town bar with a good food offer. It will revitalise the town because it has been closed for so long.”

In 2008 an image of the run down building was beamed across the country by ITV news to encapsulate Marlow's plunge into recession.

The report caused uproar amongst traders.

Mr Bridgman said it would have “very comfortable furnishings which will appeal to ladies particularly at lunch time for a meal and glass of wine.”

He added: “It will be done in a traditional style but very comfortable.”

The new tenants - Dion Korving and Ted Docherty - have run other Brakspear pubs.

Mr Bridgman said it had taken a long time to find suitable tenants.

WH Brakspear and Sons wanted The Chequers to remain primarily as a pub but most of the applications to take it had been from restaurant operators, he said.

The Chequers was once a hotel and still has bedrooms to let.

Although there are plans to use these at some point in the future, this will not happen in the short term.

The Chequers shut in June 2008 after its former occupant went into administration.