IT was last orders at a National Trust mansion house when a bar, originally installed in the 1980s, was finally removed from one of the rooms in the house.

The repair work, which was part of a Heritage Lottery project, saw builders carefully removed the bulky structure from Croome Court near Pershore, which has stood in the corner of the drawing room for almost 40 years.

Amy Forster-Smith, visitor experience manager, said: “We’ve all had mixed feelings about the wooden bar being removed.

“It’s been an interesting addition to the historic drawing room as it’s been an amusing talking point with visitors to the house, but as it’s a modern addition, we’ve decided to remove it as we’d like to use the room for exhibitions in the future and it is over-bearing in the space.”

Croome was put up for sale in 1984 and then acquired by a succession of property developers with plans to run it as a hotel, country club, restaurant, wine bar and nightclub. The oak bar was fitted in the drawing room in the 1980s when it was being used as a hotel and country club and originally extended all the way across the room.

Croft Conservation had to carefully remove the bar to prevent as little damage as possible being made to the original plasterwork and floorboards of the room.

There are "exciting plans" for the room to be used next year as part of a colourful display of Grayson Perry tapestries entitled 'Vanity of Small Differences'.