YE Olde Murenger House, since time immemorial the haunt of art students and others on the fringes of Newport's minuscule Bohemia, has re-opened after a two-month refit.

As the beer once more began to flow in the 500-year-old hostelry, manager Rob Jones said: "It's marvellous that the Murenger has had the sort of money spent on it to ensure that it is with us for another 500 years.

"Yorkshire brewers Samuel Smith, who own the pub, have insisted that its original character be maintained.

"The inside has been moved around and the bar switched from one wall to the other but most of the building materials have been recycled.

"A feature that any member of the public who wishes to can view is the upstairs room facing onto the High Street which has a ceiling with plaster mouldings of Tudor roses and Spanish pineapples to mark the marriage of Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon in 1509.

"The fireplace in the same room is of uncertain age but also ancient." As well-wishers began to arrive for the re-opening night Rob revealed that he met his wife, Julie, in the old pub back in the late Eighties.

"She was a art student and I was doing some DJ-ing. We loved the pub then and we love it now. You get all sorts and all ages in here.

"It's a good, solid local pub and has been for centuries. One of the things we've put in is a Radical Room which is a snug given over to the memory of John Frost, the 19th century Chartist leader who was born only a couple of hundred yards away."

The Murenger's black-and-white timbered exterior makes it instantly recognisable as one of the oldest standing buildings in Gwent.

It was built somewhere between 1509 and 1525 and is first mentioned as being the town house of the powerful Herbert family, where Sir Charles Herbert, High Sheriff of Monmouthshire, would entertain.

With the relative decline of the Herbert family it became a pub called the Fleur-de-Lys, becoming the Murenger in the 19th century. The name is unique and refers to the tax collector who collected the 'murage' or tax for the upkeep of the town walls.

Over the years the story grew that the name had something to do with the Moors who fought Christian knights at the time of the Crusades. In deference to this piece of local folklore, the murenger on the inn sign is shown in Moorish costume.

The Campaign for Real Ale's Good Beer Guide describes the Murenger House as 'a haven in a superpub ghetto'.

James Daley, CAMRA's regional director for South-East Wales, said: "It is a well-used pub with masses of character. It's a vital part of Newport's history."