THE new owner of a listed 200-year-old pub that has remained closed for months has unveiled improvement works he wants to carry out before re-opening.

Businessman Gael MacKenzie is seeking planning permission to demolish a single storey extension to create another external trading area at the Winchester Arms, on Castle Green, Taunton.

Mr MacKenzie, who bought the premises off an asking price of £500,000, has also submitted a planning application for internal alterations to the pub and to provide two bedrooms for short-term holiday let.

He is also hoping to win approval to instal an external fire escape staircase at the Grade II listed premises as he attempts to make the establishment as busy as it was in its heyday.

Some of the work has already been carried out without the appropriate permission and Mr MacKenzie is hoping planners at Somerset West and Taunton Council will grant retrospective approval.

The County Gazette reported earlier this year on his hopes of opening a cafe bar this summer in the building, which was built in the conservation area in about 1816.

A statement with the planning application says: "The property has recently been purchased by our client, Gael Mackenzie, after the public house has been vacant for a prolonged period of time.

"The new owner wishes to undertake general refurbishment of the public house, to remove modern internal insertions, to demolish a modern single storey extension to the north side of the building in order that additional external trading area can be created and to create two new en-suite rooms at first floor level for letting out on short-term lets .

"The Winchester Arms has been considerably altered over the years and many unsympathetic insertions have been undertaken.

"There has even been an amateur radio broadcasting booth installed to the front bar room.

"Some of the existing accommodation is poorly laid out and does not comply with current building regulations standards. The proposals in this application will restore and repair the original fabric and bring the building back to a standard suitable for public use."

Historic England has expressed concerns about certain aspects of the proposals "on heritage grounds" and has requested further information about the plans.