THE last time Bar Talk was given a guided tour around York's Lighthorseman by Gloria Clarey, it was not at its best. Although the heart of a splendid pub was there, the Victorian giant had seen better days. The paint was peeling, many of the rooms were cluttered with junk and the whole place looked sorry for itself.

We went back this week. What a transformation. The Fulford Road pub is back to its best.

In the fully refurbished main room, what is thought to be the last early Victorian bar-back in York has been painstakingly restored. A craftsman has etched it with gold leaf decoration. It sits under the famous Lighthorseman lamp, and now boasts an outside street light at one end, and it looks terrific.

A new dining room is almost ready to welcome its first guests (the menu, ready to go in a week or two, will include baguettes for lunch and Cumberland sausage and mash at night). The pool room has also been restored.

And the toilets are worth the visit alone. The men's room boasts wonderful etched windows with stained glass borders.

Upstairs, eight bedrooms are close to being finished, each boasting en suite bathrooms with power showers.

Gloria and her partner Ewen Murdo Macdonald Dray - thankfully known as Mac for short - are tenants at the Lighthorseman. They are delighted with the nearly finished result.

It has been a long and rocky road, however. At one point they resigned because they feared the renovations would never get underway, before being persuaded to come back.

The council and conservation groups were absolutely right to intervene to ensure any makeover did not destroy the character of the Lighthorseman.

And Gloria, Mac and brewery Thwaites have shown impressive commitment to preserving the original features, while adding modern innovations.

These include a widescreen TV for sports events, and some state-of-the-art air cleaners.

The couple - who also run the White Horse, Bootham - have scoured the city to find pictures of cavalry regiments formerly stationed at York barracks to decorate the pub.

They have also discovered that the first landlord, who took over in 1826, was an ex sergeant major of the cavalry with a medal from Waterloo.

"We found Victorian graffiti," said Mac. "It said, 'Prince Albert sucks'."

No doubt the Victorians would have approved of the hand-pulled beers, including Thwaites bitter, and Lancaster Bomber, bought from another Lancashire brewery, Mitchells, when it closed.

Look out too for the German wheat beer Knig Ludwig (5.5 per cent).

Already the updated Lighthorseman is bringing in new faces, Mac said.

"We're getting local couples in who haven't been in for years, and groups of young women on their way into town for a night out."

It seems the Lighthorseman brigade are charging back.

FAMILY affairs don't come much closer than this - the Little John is opening a little brother right next door in Castlegate with Jack's, a new tapas bar.

In fact it's more of an exotic cousin, inspired by licensee Jan Keenan's love of Mediterranean cooking and Spanish sunshine which she hopes to bring to York in a big way.

And although bright weather might prove difficult, her enthusiasm for the good life, with relaxed drinking and slow eating in a laid-back atmosphere could create a tasty night out.

The bar will be run by Jan's family team. Husband Darren already pops up behind the busy Little John bar, on the door and in unexpected corners while daughter Janette is a familiar face serving the pub's hearty fare.

Janette's six-year-old son Jack has proved the inspiration for the bar's name, although it's difficult to tell what he makes of the whole affair.

Jan, who hails from Glasgow, has been visiting tapas bars across the north east and in Spain to get a flavour of what she wants to set up at home and says the whole venture is a dream come true.

But sportsman Darren is a bit miffed that they couldn't get a place in Majorca where the sunshine is on tap, the property's cheaper and most importantly the golf's good.

Food should fetch about £3.95 a plate, Jan says, and will be available all day, every day, for drinkers to have as much or as little as they want.

Good to see some York publicans bringing back something more useful than a stuffed donkey and a sombrero from their trips to the Costa del drinking hole.

IT'S all over to Selby for the town's beer festival from Thursday October 24. The three-day jamboree takes place at Selby Community Centre in Scott Road. Fifty cask ales will be up for the sup. Tickets, priced £3, are available from the Wheatsheaf in Burn. Admission includes a free engraved souvenir half-pint glass. Cheers!

Updated: 08:59 Saturday, October 12, 2002