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The hotel pictured before the refurbishment

An historic hotel immortalised in one of Thomas Hardy's most famous novels is set to reopen five years after closing in a state of disrepair.

The Kings Arms in Dorchester, Dorset, featured prominently in Hardy's 1886 novel The Mayor of Casterbridge.

The Victorian author described in great detail how the former wife of flawed character Michael Henchard looked in through the building's bow-windows to find him as mayor presiding over a feast.

The Grade II listed former coaching inn closed in 2015 but its owners, Stay Original Co., have been spent 18 months refurbishing the iconic building.