The recently re-opened Dolphin Hotel on Beach Station Road in Felixstowe, looks new, smells new, and at £3 for a pint, very refreshing.

We popped in there Sunday lunch time and while not busy others like us were clearly curious and would have left with good impression.

The bar staff were friendly, professional and efficient and made my day when she told me the £3 for a pint of Carlsberg was not just an opening promotion, but the set price for as long as it remained viable.

We sat on a table in what appears is going to be the main dinning area when the kitchen is fully kitted out and given its short walk from the seafront, or the large car park, which can take 25 vehicles, it is ideally positioned for locals and visitors alike.

There is also enough space to have an outside area. ideal as the sunshine is returning.

A games room where customers can enjoy a game of pool, also boasts small stage for live music.

After being on the market for quite some time, at an asking price of £485,000 which includes 13 letting rooms, that are set to be renovated, the Dolphin Hotel was bought by John Flett, who ran the pub back in 2007 for Punch Taverns.

This time the publican, who has the Dooley Inn among others on his CV, is operating independently and there is already positive evidence of the £100,000 investment in the refurbishment to return this 1878 Victorian building to its former glory.

Formally called the Station Hotel, as it was opposite the now long defunct Beach Street Station, it changed its name to the Dolphin Hotel late in the swinging sixties.