WORK is under way on a former pub which is being transformed into a doctors' surgery, in a £2.1m project in Darlington.

Netherlaw Surgery, in Stanhope Road, is moving into the disused Blacketts pub in Bondgate.

The former pub, which was previously the site of a saw mill, is being renovated, with a two-storey extension added to the back and an alleyway knocked through so pedestrians can have easy access to the main entrance, which will be behind the main building.

As well as the surgery for the five-partner doctors' practice and their 8,500 patients, the building will house the practice's district nurses and health visitors, and accommodate clinics.

Netherlaw Surgery has been a doctors' practice since the late-1800s.

But practice manager Campbell Lees said: "We do have patients who have been coming here for years, but they are looking forward to the move.

"With the Disability Act we really needed to move - and our elderly patients are looking forward to being able to use a lift instead of climbing up the stairs in Netherlaw."

The practice will be renamed Blacketts Medical Practice and the cottage next to the main building will house a pharmacy.

In the surgery, private enterprises, including a chiropodist and physiotherapist, will operate in ground-floor rooms.

Mr Lees said: "The reason we are moving is we have run out of space at Netherlaw.

"The NHS requires us to provide a wider range of services for patients and that means we have needed additional doctors and staff. We have simply outgrown the building.

"Also, there will be ample car parking at the new practice, as car parking has become a major problem for patients."