A POPULAR Dunfermline pub is set to open its doors as a hotel by mid-November.

The Guildhall and Linen Exchange, a JD Wetherspoon pub on the High Street, applied for planning permission just over a year ago to turn offices on the upper floors of the building into hotel rooms, combining the basement and ground-floor pub with guest rooms on the first and second floors.

After initial planning permission was approved earlier this year, Wetherspoon’s are now awaiting a decision on further proposals to make alterations to windows.

The pub giants are confident that these will be approved quickly, allowing the hotel to open its doors as soon as next month, with an expected launch date of 17th/18th November.

The hotel extension is expected to add around six more jobs to the business and Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said, “Our pub in Dunfermline has proven extremely popular and we are looking forward to opening the hotel alongside it very soon.

“We are confident that the hotel will be a great asset to the pub and the town itself.” The Guildhall and Linen Exchange is hosting a beer festival which starts tomorrow (Friday) and runs until Sunday 2nd November.

A range of 10 real ales will be on offer from brewers across the world, including New Zealand, Holland and Belgium, and will be complemented by up to 15 beers from the UK.

Pub manager Sherrie McQueen said, “The festival will give people the opportunity to enjoy a superb selection of UK and international beers, many of which have not been served in the pub before. Seven of the beers on offer have been brewed by women brewers and I am delighted to showcase their excellent beers in The Guildhall and Linen Exchange.”