AN historic York pub and hotel has changed its name after new management moved in.

Businessman John Hopkinson joined husband and wife team Stuart Taylor and Maria Fooks-Taylor, to take over the Five Lions, in Walmgate, in December.

However, after completing a raft of refurbishments, which included cleaning up the interior, moving features around and freshening up the bedrooms, the trio has renamed their 12-bed hotel The Watergate Inn.

Mrs Fooks-Taylor, 34, said: “This is a new business and we wanted to start fresh with a new name.

“The street here is changing and Walmgate is on the cusp of becoming quite different than what it was before.

“Walmgate is changing to flats and is getting boutique hotels and cafés.

“It’s changing fast and we want to be a part of that.”

Mr Taylor is a former York chef while Mr Hopkinson and Mrs Fooks-Taylor gained experience running York Glass in the Shambles. “My husband is a chef and is used to doing high-end meals, but there will only be quality and well done pub food here,” added Mrs Fooks-Taylor.

“We’ve redone the beers on the bar completely.

“We now have three ales and swapped the lagers to include Freedom 4, Amstel, Carling and Heineken.

“The kitchen will reopen in the next couple of weeks but the bar is still running and the rooms are full.”

Pubs in the York area have made a habit of changing their names in recent years.

The Punch Bowl, at the top of the Groves, used to be known as the Independent.

It eventually chose to abandon the experiment.

In 2013, the Hansom Cab in Market Street reverted to its original name, the Burns Hotel.

In East Yorkshire, The Swordsman in Stamford Bridge went back to its original name, the New Inn.

More recently, the Tap and Spile in Monkgate, York, changed the name it had held for the last quarter of a century and chose to re-embrace the one it had used for the previous 91 years - the Black Horse.