The new Prense Well pub on The Mount is open for business. 

Anticipated hotly by many, and with reservations by some, the new Wetherspoon boozer has made an encouraging start for the pub group which says it has invested around £2 million in the building that was once Heswall's telephone exchange.

This lunchtime the Prense Well was pleasantly busy, with diners and drinkers enjoying the new surroundings. Among the positive comments solicited from customers were: "They've done a good job with the building"; "decent prices, which is important at the moment"; and "much better than the place being abandoned like it was".

Manager Caroline Campbell, from New Brighton, says the first few days have exceeded her expectations: "There's people coming from all over the area, and the locals seem really happy with it too. They're impressed with the building and sales have been very good. 

"I think we offer a very broad range of good value food. You know exactly what you're getting in every Wetherspoons and we're good at getting it right. We're good value, family friendly, and what you see is what you get. We've got a very varied clientele, which is nice.

"There was a bit of opposition during the planning stages, but we've had so many local residents come in, neighbours, and from down in the Lower Village, and they seem glad that we're here."

Elsewhere there's less good news for British pub goers. The number of pubs in England and Wales has continued to fall, according to the latest research revealed today.

According to the Altus Group, a real estate consultancy, there were 39,970 pubs in June, a decrease of more than 7,000 since 2012.

The industry was hit by the pandemic, rallied, but is now battling rising prices and higher energy costs.

Emma McClarkin, the chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said: "When pubs are forced to close it's a huge loss to the local community, and these numbers paint a devastating picture of how pubs are being lost in villages, towns and cities across the country.

"As a sector we have just weathered the hardest two years on memory, and we now face the challenge of extreme rising costs, with only one in three hospitality businesses currently profitable.

"It's essential that we receive relief to ease these pressures or we really do risk losing more pubs year on year."

Heswall's Spoons is open from 9am to 11pm every day.