A pub that was closed down two years ago is set to reopen in January as a day nursery.

Kids Play, Bury St Edmunds, have confirmed that the Minden Rose on Newmarket Road will be the site of a 60-place day nursery, with work already underway to transform the former Greene King pub.

The move follows plans for development at Station Hill, which will result in the eventual closure of the childcare company’s current nursery and soft play facility in 2016.

A spokeswoman for the nursery said it was not yet known if soft play will be at the Minden Rose, but there were plans for an alternative in place.

“At the minute, we are due to come out of Station Hill in 2016 so we will have two nurseries going for the time being”, she said. “We are hoping perhaps in January to open up at the Minden Rose. It will be a 60-place day nursery.”

The spokeswoman added: “There will be exciting new features at Minden Rose that will be unique, but I can’t say at the moment. But it will have a big outside adventure play area. As most people know we haven’t got much of an outdoor area at Station Hill so the outside area will be something special.”

When the Minden Rose closed in 2012, Greene King said they had made a “difficult decision to close pubs which have become unviable”.

Station Hill has been earmarked for redevelopment within St Edmundsbury Borough Council’s blueprint for future growth called Vision 2031. Hopkins Homes has submitted an application to build a total of 135 flats, made up of 28 one-bed and 107 two-bed homes, with 125 car parking spaces for the site,

The proposal, which is yet to be determined, would mean that businesses at the location, including Kids Play and the Brazilia nightclub would have to find alternative locations.

A decision on the application is likely to be made after a Government inspector makes a final ruling on the Vision document.