Major works to transform the Troll Cart in Great Yarmouth into a hotel get underway today - but the pub faces a lengthy closure during the revamp.

The JD Wetherspoon pub on Regent Road, is to become the borough's first Wetherspoon Hotel, with 22 rooms added above the current premises.

However, regulars will be without the pub for almost four months as work is carried out, with the site closing on August 13.

The £3.55m investment was approved by Great Yarmouth Borough Council last December, after plans were initially submitted in September, and will also see an adjoining one-story building demolished.

After the works are completed, a provisional re-opening date of December 5 has been set, when the Troll Cart will re-open as both a pub and a hotel.

The works will also see an extension of the customer area of the pub and the addition of a beer garden.

Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said: 'The Troll Cart is a very popular pub in Great Yarmouth and we are looking forward to making it even better by enlarging the pub and adding a new 22 bedroom hotel.

'The investment highlights Wetherspoon's commitment to the town and will hopefully act as a catalyst for other businesses to invest in Great Yarmouth.

'We believe the new-look pub and hotel will be a great addition to the town.'

Works began on site today, with the pub to remain open for just six more weeks before its closure.

It comes after works on the company's new pub in Gorleston - the William Adams - were stalled by the discovery of a crypt buried beneath the site on Gorleston High Street.

An archaelogical dig has since been completed on the site, with no further finds, and an exhumation team has been appointed and approved. However, the company still awaits a coroner's certificate to carry out the exhumation.

Mr Gershon added that once the exhumation certificate has been issued, work can continue at 'normal pace', with dates for completion having to be reworked once the company has full control of the site.

The pub was initially scheduled to open in July, but its target opening date was later pushed back to October.

The company's website is now touting November as the month the pub will open.