CIRCUS acts will perform at a historic Hereford pub when it reopens this month.

The Booth Hall in East Street has been closed since January but will reopen on December 18.

Willow Vidal-Hall, 25, and her brother, Arran, 29 have taken over the pub and hope to turn it into a space for entertainment, as well as being a pub at its heart.

Ms Vidal-Hall, who is a circus performer, said: "We decided we wanted to start some sort of venue and we have been thinking about it for quite a while.

"We walked in and thought this is a dream. It couldn't have been better for us. We want to run entertainment and circus acts- there is the height here for aerial performance. It has got an amazing energy.

"It is an amazing place and we have fallen in love with Hereford."

The siblings are from Bristol and Arran is a graphic designer.

During the opening weekend there will be live music and circus performances throughout the pub.

Ms Vidal-Hall said: "We really want to have regular entertainment here at the weekend- it is a big focus for us. Also a big focus for us is offering space for community use and arts use.

"We really want to bring in as many different aspects as we can- circus, theatre, dance, poetry, music, anything and everything."

She said they will just be serving drinks for now, but hope to stock snacks in the future.

The previous landlord partly blamed the pub's closure on the delay in opening the passageway which led to the pub from the High Town. It has been closed since a fire ripped through the former River Island and Card Factory stores in October 2010.

Ms Vidal-Hall said: "We are hoping we can make it a special enough place for people to come that little bit around the corner and come and enjoy the space."