A PUB that witnessed an uprising against Elizabeth I and public executions is reclaiming its heritage, after three years as a theme bar.

Bishop Auckland's Australian theme pub, The Outback, has attracted little attention, sandwiched between fast food takeaways and modern bars. But in its previous incarnation, as the Bay Horse, it claimed to be County Durham's oldest pub and one of the oldest in England, having opened in 1530.

Today, the Outback is popular on the weekend drinking circuit for youngsters. But landlord Chris Ball has decided to revert to the pub's original name.

Regulars have breathed a sigh of relief - many refused to call it anything other than the Bay Horse.

Chris Ball said: "It is purely and simply for historical reasons, because it is part of Bishop Auckland's heritage.

"It is a shame that a pub that had been known as the Bay Horse for the past 450 years was ever changed to The Outback."

Local historian Barbara Laurie said records did not exist to verify the claim that it is Britain's third oldest pub, because licences were not needed until 100 years after it opened.

She said: "When it was built in 1530, Henry VIII declared himself head of the English church. A few years later, there was the rising of the North against Elizabeth, and 21 people who had joined the rebel army were rounded up and five were publicly hanged in the town to teach people a lesson."

Barmaid Kathleen Watson, from nearby Toronto, has worked at the pub for the past 15 years and previously worked at the Sun Inn, which stood opposite the Bay Horse until the relatively youthful 300-year-old pub was shipped to Beamish Museum.

Pub regular Jim Hall, who has been a regular at the pub for 49 years, is overjoyed at the move.

He said: "It was just a small ale house then they built the present structure around it, probably in 1896."