PLANS to transform a popular pub so it can serve meals too have been given the go-ahead.

Proposals from Belhaven Pubs Ltd to alter The Railway Hotel, on Haddington’s Court Street, with plans for a kitchen and dining space, were submitted to East Lothian Council last October.

Since then, Greene King, the pub company and brewery, which owns Belhaven Brewery and which is behind the scheme, has worked with the local authority for the plans to get the green light.

A Belhaven Pub Partners spokesperson said: “We are pleased at the progress of our planning application for the Railway Hotel at Haddington.

“The application is for a projected six-figure investment in the Haddington pub building which will add a kitchen and create a new dining space, including a new lay-out, allowing for the introduction of a fantastic new food offer for the first time at the pub.”

The spokesperson added: “We are continuing the process of recruiting for a new licensee to work in partnership with Belhaven and make the pub’s refurbishment plans a success.

“This is at an advanced stage and we hope to make a further announcement on this shortly.

“In the meantime, Gary McFarlane is continuing to operate the business on an interim basis.”

Gary, along with Michael Pisanek, took over the Railway Hotel last July from Hamish Colgan, who had run the business for almost three decades.

Gary, who has lived in Haddington all his life, said that they were in negotiations with Greene King regarding the potential redevelopment.