GUIDED tours are being offered round one of Upton's most prominent buildings by its proud proprietors.

Since Jon and Chris Lear took over the White Lion Hotel in 1997, they have gradually replaced all the furniture and fittings and have just finished painting the exterior of the building.

Now they feel they have really made their mark and want local people to come in and have a look round.

"We call the place Upton's little secret because there are people who have lived in the area for many years who have never been inside," said Mr Lear, who left a position as executive chef at Oulton Hall, Leeds' only five-star hotel, to buy the Old Street property.

"When we got here, it was really tired," he said. "All the fixtures and fittings were worn out and there were 25-watt bulbs in all the light sockets.

"We're now listed in the CAMRA guide for real ale, we have doubled our wine list and won an RAC fine dining award. For every pound we've earned, we've put 95p back into the improvements."

The White Lion was a well-known resting place for weary travellers on the stagecoach route from Gloucester and Cheltenham to Herefored and Worcester. It was particularly well known to 18th Century novelist Henry Fielding and 11 chapters of his famous book, Tom Jones, have the hotel as their setting. Fielding even mentions some of the bedrooms by name.

Another of the hotel's famous visitors was the actress Sara Siddons (1755-1851) who took part in a play there.

Guided tours of the hotel take place between 11.45am and 12.15pm on weekdays, starting on Monday (November 5). No booking is necessary.