WEYMOUTH’S Handmade Pie and Ale House is to continue trading next door to its current premises after residents showed they still have an appetite for its home-baked delicacies.

As reported in the Dorset Echo, the award-winning eatery on Queen Street – which is under the same ownership as the next door Somerset House Hotel – announced it would close on October 26 with plans put forward to convert into en-suite hotel accommodation.

In a change of use planning application to Dorset Council, the business owners stated their intention to turn the Pie & Ale House building into six en-suite letting bedrooms.

The official outcome of the planning application is yet to be declared, however it received no objections from consultees, including Weymouth Town Council.

But now the business owners have now announced their plans to continue selling the pies after being ‘overwhelmed’ with support from customers - who they have affectionately monikered ‘Piefans’ on their Facebook page. Instead of being served from the original premises, however, the pies will be on sale from the Somerset Hotel next door after a refurbishment. It is expected to reopen on December 1 if everything goes to plan, with decorations from the Pie and Ale House being moved to the Somerset to make regular pie fans feel at home. The Pie and Ale House building will still be converted into hotel rooms as per the planning application. Hazel Bourton, co-owner of the Pie & Ale House and The Somerset said: “When we announced we would be closing on our Facebook page we were overwhelmed by the amount of support and love from everyone.

“We didn’t realise how many hearts we had touched and we began to question whether we were doing the right thing.

“At the Somerset we’d been doing a BBQ but we have to consider our bedroom guests so instead we will be serving our hot and cold pies from the Somerset - people will also be able to take them away to eat on the train, similar to when we operated from a van outside the business.

“We’re also delighted to be able to keep on the majority of our team from the Pie and Ale House - a core team of around ten, including the manager Ciaran who has been with us since we opened.”