A POPULAR York pub that closed almost five months ago is to re-open on Monday.

The Junction in Leeman Road had focused on live music, but strict licensing conditions following complaints from locals made it unviable.

The pub has now undergone an extensive refurbishment and will reopen on Monday with an emphasis on real ale and a family atmosphere.

There will also be home-cooked food and there are also plans to open a micro-brewery later in the year, so drinkers can taste beers brewed on site.

The pub is owned by Enterprise Inns and will be run by tenant Pete Pendlebury, who already runs The Windmill and The Bay Horse, both in Blossom Street, and The Jubilee in Balfour Street.

He said: “We are planning to keep mainly Yorkshire beers, such as from Black Sheep, Timothy Taylor and Barnsley breweries.

“A lot of people have been asking me about when we will open, and when I tell them our plans they are quite excited.”

The Junction opened in 1994, on the site of the old Phoenix Working Men’s Club, but has seen its catchment area increase in recent years as new flats have been built along Leeman Road.

Tom Kitt, manager of the Junction, said: “We hope the cask ale focus will be successful. There is a big market to tap into, and we are only two minutes from the railway station. It’s going to be a fantastic pub and that can only benefit locals – now it’s down to them to support it.”

Jeremy Hansbro, regional manager for Enterprise, said there would be ten hand pumps with different cask ales, and said he hoped the pub could become York’s first pub with a micro-brewery.

He said the pub had previously seemed unwelcoming to people such as lone women, due to its poor standard of decor, but he was confident it would now be welcoming to everyone.