A REAL ale pub chain will create 30 jobs when a £1m pub opens in Washington next week.

JD Wetherspoon has spent five months converting a former snooker hall and caf in Victoria Road, Concord.

The first pint will be pulled at the pub - called the William de Wessyngton after a Norman knight who owned the local manor - on Monday.

Paintings and photographs, as well as text relating to the history and characters of the area will be displayed in the pub.

In common with others in the Wetherspoon chain, the pub will be music-free and have no pool tables.

It will specialise in cask ales and the range of ten available at any one time will include beers from Britain's micro-breweries.

The pub will serve food at all times, be accessible for wheelchair users and have an adapted toilet for disabled customers. It will also have no-smoking areas.

Manager David Routledge, from South Shields, who previously managed a Wetherspoon pub, The Plaza, in Benwell, Newcastle, said: "I'm confident that it will prove popular and be a good addition to the town."

The company also plans to open in Consett.