An Ashby restaurant is welcoming man's best friend through its doors - and with a special menu aimed purely for dogs.

The Beeches in Burton Road even has a doggy beer to wash the food down with.

Earlier this month, the eatery, introduced its canine choice - and it has proved popular with owners and their pets alike.

General Manager Gary Broadhurst took over at The Beeches three months ago, and decided that the previous ban on dogs had to go.

Not only that, he positively welcomed them back and laid on special food for them - while the humans tucked into the regular menu.

Gary explained the reasons for the move. He told Ashby Nub News: "I love dogs, but when I arrived here I wondered where they all were.

"I asked the staff and they said: 'We've not been dog friendly', which I couldn't believe.

"So I thought: 'We're not having that' and we launched a dog menu. If it goes well here, then we're going to launch it across all of our other sites. The Beeches is the first one.

"But as well as the food, we've now brought in a doggie beer to see how that goes.

"It's called Bottom Sniffer, and it's non-alcoholic of course. But it's chicken flavoured.

"The food is dried, but flavoured. Like mini-burgers, fish and chips, bangers, that sort of thing."

If early signs are anything to go by, then the idea looks like being successful.

Gary added: "It's gone really well so far. The dogs love it - we've been putting lots of dog photos on our social media.

We think he's enjoying it

"There's a company that makes all of the special food, and it's called Sir Woofchester's, but we also use Woof & Brew for the beer.

"If the family want to come down and bring the dog, then they can. There's a large area of the bar where they can go and have their foods.

"But there's one lady who brings her dog who sits on a chair, not the floor."

Gary admits the policy bucks the trend with not many bars or restaurants being dog friendly.

He added: "I think there's maybe one other place in Ashby, but our customers love it and the food has gone down really well. It'll be exciting to see what happens - but we plan to continue with it."

The dog theme will continue right throughout the summer at The Beeches.

They will be running a charity day for International Dog Day on August 26. 

There will be dog events and prizes, stalls and a dog bar for doggy beer. There is also fun for all the family with a bouncy castle.