PICTURES taken by a Malmesbury photographer can be seen on Google Maps, allowing viewers to take a 360 degree tour of a pub or hotel before they visit.

Commercial photographer Justin Short, 46, lives in Charlton, just outside the town of Malmesbury and has recently been accredited as a Google Hotel Views photographer, a rare privilege for photographers.

As well as hotels, he takes pictures for Google Street View and has just done a 360 degree photo tour of his local pub, The Rattlebone Inn. The pub had recently undergone a refurbishment following a fire earlier this year.

"I know the owner of the Rattlebone and it looks really nice. After the fire in March they have only just got the scaffolding down," said Justin.

The photographer went on to say that although many businesses have not signed up for a Google tour yet, he believes in 10 years every firm will have had one.

"I've lived in the Cotswolds for 15 years now and Google came to me because they saw my photos of the area," said Justin."There are only about 100 photographers who do this for Google in the UK and up to 400 in Europe."

Google Street View technology gives online customers a full interactive tour, letting them walk around the business and see what it has to offer.

Justin works with Google, shooting virtual tours of pubs, hotels, shops, restaurants and many other businesses across the Cotswolds.

He admits he enjoys his work now more than ever as it gets him involved with the local community. Before he would work in London, snapping head shots for large companies, something he said he found dry.

"I much prefer dealing with local businesses now," he said. "It's all much closer and more personal."

Visit shortwork360.com to find out more about the new business tours.