ANYONE with knowledge, memories or photographs of Tavistock's Bedford Hotel are being invited to a free coffee morning to reminisce and help a local author complete a book he has written about the hotel.

Alex Mettler, from Tavistock, has an interest in local history and buildings and has written a number of books about Tavistock. He wrote a short book on the Bedford Hotel in the 1980's but five years ago owner of the hotel Philip Davis asked him to write a longer book.

Mr Mettler said: 'I finished the book about six months ago, but there are bits of the history still missing. That's why we are having a free coffee morning, for anyone who can bring any information or memories along. In particular, photos are proving difficult to get hold of. We are short of photos for the early part of the 20th century, in particular we need a photo of the Bedford garage, inside the Bedford Tap — the public bar which used to be underneath the building which closed in the 1960s, photos of inside the old ballroom, pictures of Princess Diana inside the hotel when she visited in 1983 and when the 29th Division of the US Infantry came in 1994.'

Mr Mettler is also keen to find out more about the tenants of the building up to 1955, including John Squire, Ellen Stanbury, William Isaac Lake and the Sampsom-Whites.

The coffee morning will take place at the hotel on Saturday February 4 from 10am to 1pm.

'If anybody's got anything about the Bedford, if they would like to bring it in we can have a chat about it.'