The Battleaxes near Nailsea is rescued but not by a Tyntesfield knight!

Hooray, The Battleaxes on the Nailsea to Bristol road is finally reopening this month after a major revamp.

But whether the third Lord Wraxall will be there is a matter of conjecture!

Nailsea People can reveal he has been invited to the grand opening of the pub along with lots of other local people.

Once part of the glorious Tyntesfield estate ot was built by the benevolent Matilda Blanche Gibbs, widow of wealthy merchant William Gibbs, in 1881.

She wanted the building as somewhere for estate workers to meet without drinking alcohol.

But at the outbreak of World War 1 the Temperance House was leased to Georges Brewery, later Courage Brewery, and then we presume the beer and cider flowed.

In World War 2 land girls and the walking wounded from the American hospital used to socialise at the pub.

Its name refers to the Tyntesfield coat-of-arms which is three battle axes.

When Courage’s gave back the lease to the late Lord Wraxall (Richard Gibbs) in the 1960s he promptly sold the building.

It isn’t on public record of how much Matilda’s great grandson got from Courage tenant Mr A Bird for the freehold in 1962 but the average UK house price at the time was £2,950 and a new Ford Cortina cost £591.

During the past half century the place has had a few name changes, served high cuisine, operated as a steak house with carvery and latterly as a failed Indian restaurant.

The corner site of a winding country road The Battleaxes has hit the headlines because of the number of crashes into its stone boundary wall.

Luckily no-one has been reported as suffering serious injury.

Lately the parish council has listened to complaints that the building had fallen into disrepair with villagers saying it was an ‘eyesore’.

And there was uproar when a car washing business opened in the car without planning permission.

The name is written The Battleaxes, The Battle Axes, The New Battleaxes or The New Battle Axes but I have checked with the new people and they say The Battleaxes.

Then I wondered if the many name configurations reflect the changes of ownership.

One of its busiest times was when Mr and Mrs G helped by their daughter ran the restaurant in the 1980s.

At the start of the new millennium another successful landlord Alistair Scott attempted to buy the premises from his employers Celtic Inns.

This ended in disappointment as did the plans for a multi-million pound hotel and affordable housing scheme by Panna and Kumar Patel.

Is 36-year-old Clevedon man Alex Reilley who owns the enterprising pub business Flatcappers and bought a 15-year lease in April this year going to be the knight in shinning armour everyone has been waiting for?

After spending £325,000 to produce a ‘traditional boutique-style’ pub and recruiting 20 staff for a grand invitation-only opening on Friday, September 24, everyone hopes.

Workmen have pulled up the old carpets, demolished the kitchen and thrown out the tatty old furniture.

And after extensive repairs, complete redecoration and new catering equipment all is very nearly spick-and-span.

During the next two years Flatcappers say they intend to make further investments to change the basement Backwell bar, add bedrooms to the first floor and an outdoor terrace at the back.

It is expected another 10 jobs will be created by the end of the this refurbishment.

Flatcappers was co-founded by Pierre Woodford, a former general manager of Sir Terence Conran's Bibendum restaurant in London and Loungers Ltd.

Mr Woodhouse said: "This is the group's most prestigious and exciting scheme to date."

Last year the company won a national award for best refurbishment at The Castle Inn in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire.

Mr Reilley said: "The Battleaxes is a pub that almost everyone in the area knows and it once enjoyed a very good reputation and was known as a very busy pub.

"With its significance to the area, the size of the catchment and its proximity and historic links to Tyntesfield, we believe it can be a very busy pub once again.

"Food is a major facet of Flatcappers' operations and it is expected The Battleaxes will be very food driven.

"However, there is as much emphasis on drinking, particularly real ale, as there is on eating with Good Beer Guide inclusion being a major aspiration."

Wraxall and Failand Parish Council chairman Chris Ambrose, said: "The pub's future has been a cause of concern for villagers for some time.

“As chairman it was one of my priorities to see this area of the village enhanced. "

The pub is a landmark building which forms part of the gateway into Wraxall."

A company spokesman said: “The third Lord Wraxall has yet to respond to our invitation so I can't guarantee that he'll be there but we are hoping."

The third baron who was the main beneficiary of the £17 million from the sale of Tyntesfield which he dubbed a ‘financial black hole’ is Eustace, younger brother of Richard, who lives his at Coddenham House, his country seat in Suffolk.