Stafford’s newest riverside bar and restaurant will open to the public tonight.

The Yard at Espleys Yard, Riverside Walk is the latest of the Barracuda Group’s Smith and Jones chain of pubs.

The pub, which is employing 35 full and part-time staff, opens at 7pm following a two-hour VIP invitation event to show off the new premises.

Barracuda regional manager David Campbell said they had invested nearly £1 million in the new bar.

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Stafford’s newest riverside bar and restaurant will open to the public tonight.

The Yard at Espleys Yard, Riverside Walk is the latest of the Barracuda Group’s Smith and Jones chain of pubs.

The pub, which is employing 35 full and part-time staff, opens at 7pm following a two-hour VIP invitation event to show off the new premises.

Barracuda regional manager David Campbell said they had invested nearly £1 million in the new bar.It can be reached by a new metal footbridge over the River Sow from Mill Bank and there is also rear access from Newport Road.

The manager is Michael Jones, who has come from Leeds to run The Yard.

He said they would be open from lunchtime to 12 midnight Thursday to Saturday and until 11pm on other nights. Food will be served until 10pm each day.

Dress code for the premises is smart casual.

The pub can seat up to 200 diners and will also have an outside terrace area for up to 40.

The Yard will also offer Sky Sports but has no current plans to offer live music.

The bar is part of the new Urban Cube development on the site of the former Midland Red bus depot site at Espleys Yard.

The £6.7 million Riverside Walk project will have 34 two-bedroomed apartments and two studio apartments.

A second bar unit on the site has been built but details of who will be taking it have not yet been announced.

The Yard has a frontage to Mill Bank and the River Sow, with riverside seating outside.

Barracuda Group owns Smith and Jones pubs in many towns, including Uttoxeter and Chaddesden in Derby.

The company was established in 2000 by a management team led by Mark McQuater and has since acquired and opened over 190 pubs and bars across the UK.

Prices for the Riverside Walk apartments range from £80,000 to £150,000 and many have already been snapped up.

Stafford Borough Council has big plans to promote town centre living, with the introduction of a further 250 flats to be developed at the new Riverside complex, set to be built on the site of the old Riverside Leisure Centre and South Walls.

The complex will include a major new shopping complex, multi-screen cinema, restaurants, cafes and bars, with the former Tesco site opposite the council offices at Riverside also expected to be sold off for leisure development.