TELEVISION star Caroline Quentin delighted the crowds as she opened a new bar in Moorhayes.

Quentin, who is most famous for her roles in Men Behaving Badly and Jonathan Creek, officially opened the new bar at Moorhayes Community Centre after a 14-month refurbishment project.

The bar is now set to become a focal point for the local community, and it was officially launched at an opening ceremony last week.

The Jonathan Creek star, who lives on a farm north of Tiverton was invited to the event by Philip White, the chairman of the Moorhayes Association.

Speaking at the event, the comedic actress said: "When Phil asked me to come here tonight to open this facility I said yes, because this is a real hub at the centre of this community.

"Congratulations to everybody involved.

"It is wonderful for the community and it is a great honour to open the country house bar.”

Moorhayes Association vice chairman Malcolm Phillips, thanked everyone for attending the event, and said the opening was the culmination of a lot of hard work.

He said: “It has gone very well so far.

"Fourteen months ago we started working on it, we felt the community wasn’t really going anywhere and this can help run the hall and bring the community more together.

"We are very pleased with the bar and the turnout this evening. We have had a very good footfall and people using the hall and people on the estate, everybody seems to like it. I actually built it with my own hands.

"I think the people all love it, and the committee have done really well.

Mr White added: “It is eight years ago now that the hall opened. It is virtually self funding.

"We had this space at the end of the hall that wasn’t being used. Malcolm had the idea to turn it into a small social club and that was a great success in the area. Three years ago we started to dream fo extending the bar. It will be a great asset to the area because there is no other asset wuite like it in the Tiverton area.”

Dennis Knowles, mayor of Tiverton, said: “This is more than a social hall. It is the community hub of Moorhayes.”