WHAT have you done to the windows? a regular at Walkers Bar asked. Cleaned them, came the reply. The new-look Walkers Bar has undergone one of the best-value makeovers in York. Since Dave and Loraine Wiltshire switched from being managers to tenants earlier this summer, they have transformed the place.

Not for them the £1 million lavished on Bar 38. A splash of paint, a spot of elbow grease and the Micklegate boozer sparkles like a new pin.

Dave and Loraine installed themselves behind the bar on April 1, 1999. But this was no April Fool's joke. By taking the tenancy from Scottish & Newcastle, they have given notice that they intend to stick around.

The couple moved to York from Grimsby. "We're absolutely in love with the city," Dave confessed.

The new decor came via the talented hands of a French guy called Pierre who is the talent behind many of the artistic designs on blackboards in York's pubs and restaurants.

"We're still a traditional bar selling traditional ales," he insisted.

The beer cellar is "absolutely massive", and they are taking advantage.

"We now do guest ales. We have also changed the menu.

"We are also in the process of applying for an entertainment licence."

The regulars are all for it, he said. "They're behind us 100 per cent."

u BEER in a champagne-style bottle - it can't be true...

But Bar Talk can vouch that this is no silly season story. We have been sent one of the 75cl bottles, complete with cork, which contains pure Hoegaarden.

The wine-bottle version, complete with cork, has been introduced as a result of consumer research.

This suggested that the Belgium beer's ingredients, including wheat, coriander seeds and orange peel, give it many of the flavours associated with wine.

Stuart Ibbertson, Hoegaarden brand manager, said the big bottle "can help to transform the image of beer and to expand the variety of occasions when beer is consumed by which he means drunk.

"There are many people who would love to drink beer rather than champagne or wine when raising a glass on a special occasion - they can now have the chance to pop a cork and raise a toast with a glass full of Hoegaarden."

The famous, hexagonal Hoegaarden glasses are designed to keep the beer cool, he added, moments before we lost interest.

The champagne-style bottle is already on sale at Tesco at £2.99 per bottle, and from the Majestic Wine Warehouse by the case.

u NEXT time you're in Scarborough, call in at one of its newest pubs.

The town is the latest to get a Head of Steam boozer on the railway station, following in the, ahem, tracks of Newcastle and Huddersfield.

It is run by Ellen Fleming, a graduate of Scarborough University. She previously worked as a 'blue toucan', a professional children's entertainer for Thomson Holidays in Majorca. On her return to Scarborough, she became bar and entertainments manager at The Albert Hotel.

The Head of Steam serves many guest beers. And in the US-style Grand Central Diner, you can choose grub from Cajun Chicken to pasta.