THE venue of a new cocktail bar set to open in Bournemouth today was once an illegal drinking place.

Be At One cocktail brand is set to shake, stir and sizzle the town when they officially open at the foot of Richmond Hill.

But long before the venue became a popular night spot in Bournemouth, it started out as an illicit drinking establishment.

It has since been a 'mysterious' hotel, an office development and home to other bars and clubs including Consortium, Lola Lo and Kukui.

According to Bournemouth records, it was once no more than a hole dug into the hillside and a tin door to keep it secure.

In the late Victorian period, it was transformed into a gothic styled building called ‘The Central Hotel’ which was sadly destroyed on May 23, 1943 by a wartime bomb.

In 1956 the site was knocked down and an office development emerged called Brystone House, since been renamed Bristol West House.

And today, it has reopened as Be At One cocktail brand, following a £500,000 refurbishment.

And there has been a £6,000 investment into training the team of bartenders to ensure they know every cocktail off by heart, with regular competitions taking place across all the Be At One branches to highlight their skills.

The chain is famous for its extensive range of cocktails, which includes a virtuous range with healthier ingredients, lower alcohol content and unrefined sugar.

Concoctions include the Svenska Detox, a combination of spinach, kale, pineapple, lime, agave syrup and Absolut Citron, and Almond Mocha, which contains Kahlua, almond butter, raw chocolate powder, almond milks and palm sugar syrup.