A new pub and restaurant will open on Dagenham’s former Sanofi site this summer, creating 45 new jobs.

Barking and Dagenham Post: A new Marstons tavern The Pipe Major is being built on the old Sanofi site.A new Marstons tavern The Pipe Major is being built on the old Sanofi site. (Image: Archant)

Work on The Pipe Major, in Rainham Road South, is well underway, with it set to cater for up to 180 diners upon completion in June.

Owned by Marston’s, the UK’s largest builder of new pubs, the one-acre acre development will add to the chain’s 2,100 pubs and bars across the country, offering a daily carvery in addition to a selection of other home cooked meals and an extensive choice of drinks.

“We’re extremely excited about The Pipe Major and hope it will build a great reputation locally when it’s open,” said Paul Whiteman from Marston’s Inns and Taverns.

“It will offer top quality, value for money pub food and an unrivalled selection of drinks, including cask ales from across the country.”

The pub is part of an ongoing Marston’s scheme to provide new premium taverns across the country.

It will join the borough’s newest science and business park, londoneast-uk, on the 108-acre former Sanofi site, which opened in a multi-million pound deal in November last year.

Bought by Site Operations Group (SOG), the seven-acre hub of highly-specialised research, development and manufacturing buildings is expected to attract companies and workers from across the globe, generating up to 800 new jobs for the area.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson was among those who welcomed the opening of londoneast.

Speaking when it first opened, Boris said: “When Sanofi left its great site in Dagenham it wanted there to be legacy for life sciences [the study of living organisms], so I am absolutely thrilled SOG has taken up the torch.

“At londoneast-uk, as it is going to be called, they will be creating a new destination for investment in life sciences, lengthening London’s lead as a world capital in these industries.”

Earlier this month the park was used as the setting for two-part primetime ITV drama Code of a Killer, which starred John Simm.

The business park also became the new home for charity Diaspora Community Projects, after its old base was demolished.

Alongside the pub and the business park, the site is also set to feature a Sainsbury’s supermarket, while planning permission also exists for a hotel, medical centre and manufacturing units at the extensive site of the former pharmaceutical giant.