Opening date for Cross Gates Wetherspoons The Charles Henry Roe finally confirmed

The Charles Henry Roe will be officially opened by Cross Gates resident Katrina Slater at 8am on Tuesday, July 21.

There is one bar, a beer garden and aN outdoor smoking area.

Getting council approval for the pub proved tricky for Wetherspoons, with Leeds councillors raising concerns about noise and traffic.

The firm won an appeal in 2018 after councillors failed to make a decision about whether to approve it.

It was hoped The Charles Henry Roe could open in 2019, but a construction company involved going bust and the coronavirus pandemic have seen the date pushed back.

The pub, which is wheelchair accessible, will open with the same Covid-19 safety measures in place at all other Wetherspoons pubs.

Wetherspoons bosses picked the name The Charles Henry Roe after the Transport Yorkshire Preservation Group approached them with the idea of paying tribute to Mr Roe, who died in 1965.

His carriageworks, founded at Cross Gates in 1920, made more than 18,000 buses until its closure in 2011.

The Charles H Roe company became part of British Leyland in the 1970s.

Its Cross Gates factory was earmarked for closure in 1984 but a group of 100 employees pooled their redundancy money to stage a buy-out before relaunching as Optare.

Optare switched its operations from Cross Gates and sister sites in Rotherham and Blackburn to a new £3m base at Sherburn in Elmet in 2011.

Historical photos and details of local history, as well as artwork and images of local scenes and characters, are displayed in the pub, along with bus-related artefacts.

The Charles Henry Roe will be open from 8am until 11pm from Sunday to Thursday, and 8am until midnight on Friday and Saturday.

Food will be served from opening until 11pm every day.

Pub manager Tom Reeve said: "Myself and my team are looking forward to welcoming customers into the pub and we are confident that it will be a great addition to the Cross Gates community.”