PLAINFIELD — A Danielson resident is hoping to bring family expertise and a vision of revitalization to bear on a storied Plainfield bar which traces its history back to the horse-and-buggy era.

After several months of renovations, Dan Martin, 52, in August opened Dano’s Pub inside the former Roberts Hotel Central, a bar and long-term rental facility off Putnam Road in the Central Village section of town built 160 years ago.

“My dad owned the Indian Leap Café in Norwich for nearly 30 years, so I had a working knowledge of how to run a bar going into this,” said Martin, who works for the state. “I worked as a bartender and manager for a time and my siblings and I all put our time in at the family business.”

The pub came onto Martin’s radar after a chance conversation between his father, Charles “Chucky” Martin, and the bar’s former owner, Ronald Roberts.

“I spoke with Ronald Roberts years ago at the casino and later began to see real estate ads for the place with prices that kept dropping and dropping,” Charles Martin said. “I stopped in and spoke with his wife — Ronald had died in December — and she said the whole place — bar and hotel — was for sale. It’s a big old white building, but I thought it had potential.”

After working out the particulars, Dan Martin spent roughly $55,000 getting the lower bar area cleaned up. He said since the bones of the building were still solid, much of the work was aesthetic. Carpets were brought in, new floors and lighting were added and the whole space got a fresh coat of paint.

“This place was very prosperous in the 1970s and 1980s, but it suffered, like many places did after the no-smoking policies in bars went into effect,” Martin said. “The owner got ill and the place developed somewhat of a reputation.”

But Martin said the building still carries its history in its timbers.

“This place, with its dining room and rooms upstairs, was used by people coming off the train back in the day,” he said. “There was a place for horses and buggies and people would come in buy their train tickets, maybe rent a room and have a beer and a meal. That’s what I want this place to be, a spot where someone can come in and get a cold beer in a clean, safe environment.”

In the gaming area near a music stage hangs items with connections to both the Martin and Reynolds’ families, including photos of the former owners and a piece of the café run by Martin’s father. Martin on Friday morning proudly showed off the building's liquor permits from 1878 and 1906 when the bar had an attached stable.

“This place has a history in the community,” he said. “We’re already getting some of the old customers stopping in after being away for 10 years.”

The building’s upper level is still home to tenants with 11 people now in residence, including Neil Simonds who’s lived inside the hotel area for 15 years.

“I know this place need some renovations and since that happened I’ve seen more customers come in,” he said. “It’s a better atmosphere and there’s not the riffraff you’d see before.”

Martin said he meets with state health representatives this week to get the green light to serve food, pub-style offerings like burgers and wings.

“The next phase will be getting the dining room up-and-running with an larger menu and then I’ll look to upgrading the rooms and bathrooms upstairs,” he said. “This can be a tough industry, but it’s been gradually picking up. This is a place with a unique place in the town’s history and I’d be remiss if I didn’t try and bring it back.”