THE mystery of a pub sign bought by a Malvern couple from a Gloucestershire salvage yard has finally been solved.

The sign for The Spa pub was bought by Merrick and Caroline Feast, who moved to Malvern two years ago and are members of the Friends of Malvern Springs and Wells.

The couple were puzzled as to its origins and appealed to Worcester News readers for help.

A reader, called leeolitina on the Worcester News website, said: "The Spa was in Oldends Lane, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, and was owned by the Brimscombe Brewery as well as by Whitbread and Wadworth".

John Tye, a member of the Inn Sign Society, who lives in Ledbury, came to the same conclusion. He contacted a fellow member of the society with an in-depth knowledge of Gloucestershire pubs who had take a photograph of the sign in 1996.

He said: "I have established that The Spa public house in Stonehouse is still operational and having recently spoken to the landlady, I understand that a sign similar to the one found by the Feasts is hanging outside the pub."

Meanwhile, Mr and Mrs Feast had been doing their own research and on a trip to Brighton came across a book indexing pub signs where they found The Spa at Stonehouse.

"We found out that the bloke in the picture is a parson," Mr Feast said. "We will have to go to Stonehouse and have a look sometime - and have a pint in The Spa pub if it is open."

One question still remains unanswered and that was posed by Malvern historian and organiser of the Friends of Malvern Springs and Wells Cora Weaver - why doesn't Malvern have a Spa pub? And a fresh question has been raised by Mr Tye - why is a pub named The Spa located in Stonehouse?