WITH only months to go before its grand reopening, the Standard has been given an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of building work at the King’s Head Hotel.

The iconic hotel, which has been closed to the public since 2007, has been the subject of a £7million restoration project and is set to open its doors to the public in June.

While it currently resembles a construction site, developers have said that it will reopen with a new image, 45 individually designed bedrooms and a luxury spa and gym.

Stephen Mannock, the King’s Head’s general manager, said that building work has been slow paced in order to make sure things are done right.

“The last thing we wanted to do was to just create a bog standard hotel. There isn’t a definitive deadline. We’ve got a unique way of building where we can take our time and try different out different things until we get it right,” he said.

“We want to end up with a product that people wouldn’t expect. We just said let’s make sure we give Cirencester the best possible hotel.”

Excavations inside the hotel have thrown up a number of hidden artefacts, with the most notable being a Roman mosaic estimated to be 1,800 years old.

Other items such as Elizabethan shoes, pottery and old coins have also been unearthed by members of the 80-strong builders working onsite.

Mr Mannock threw cold water on rumours of an underground network of tunnels between the hotel and the Parish Church.

“We haven’t seen any yet. That’s not to say that they don’t exist, we just haven’t found them,” he said.