THE great and the good of the Winchester business community were out in force to celebrate the launch of a newly refurbished garden. 

The Winchester Royal Hotel, in St Peter Street, marked the occasion with Prosecco, cocktails, nibbles and live music, on Friday, July 12. 

Southampton guitarist Kieron Cox entertained the crowd with a range of hits and was taking requests throughout the evening. 

The hotel's general manager explained the work that had gone into the refurb, which has made the garden one of the city's largest private outdoor spaces. 

The Winchester Royal Hotel garden (Image: Newsquest)

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Mirdo Budiaci said that hotel guests and members of the public are always welcome to make the most of the large garden. He said: “We just wanted to relaunch the product essentially. We had a soft refurbishment of the public areas so we just wanted to invite everyone to see what we have done. It's about three months since we started the work, so obviously there is always a challenge with suppliers and everything else when you have to move around with events you already have booked.

The Winchester Royal Hotel (Image: Newsquest)

"We still have some final bits to finish off like paintwork and artwork, but we're close to the end now and it's amazing because it's a massive change. It was a much-needed change, it was missing the warmth, love and attention, so we are very pleased with it. 

He added: “I'm over the moon with it, it wasn't easy to go through the refurb with the hotel still open, it's just amazing. We're lucky to have some good owners as well, they are very involved. We're picking up with more events now like weddings and social gatherings. We want to launch some more events in the garden for the summer and we have partnered with some local businesses who we want to put on events with. It's such a nice community in Winchester.”

For more details about the hotel, visit winchesterroyalhotel.com.