A NEW bar will draw its inspiration from Bournemouth's founder.

Tonic Social recently won a licence to open on the ground floor and external terrace of the Hilton Hotel, with a warning from the board that it should not let in "riff-raff from other nightclubs" due to its late licence.

Owner THAT Group is currently seeking a change to its planning permission to match the licensed closing times of the new bar – 11pm Sunday to Wednesday, midnight Thursday and 1am Friday and Saturday.

It said of its new bar, which will open in the autumn: "An independent venue, but with common ownership as the Hilton, we will offer an increasing number of affluent professionals and tourists a place to feel a sense of neighbourhood community, an aspiration that sits firmly within Bournemouth’s vision for 2020."

It said the "concept of Tonic Social", which will link outdoor and indoor space under a central pergola, followed research into Bournemouth's founder Lewis Tregonwell and Augustus Granville, whose book 'The Spas of England' did much to promote the town.

"By focussing on these two individuals we believe we have created an entirely unique concept that will help restore Bournemouth’s motto of ‘Pulchritudo et Salubritas’ translated as ‘Health and Beauty’."