WORK has begun on a Blackburn Islamic education centre which was formerly the Dog Inn in Revidge Road.

The pub was bought by a committee of 12 Bengali households in 2011 to be transformed into a madresah.

But controversy arose when renovation work saw the historical lettering on the side of the pub being chiseled away.

Now, the committee has paid £4,000 to restore the pub sign from 1908.

Noor Mohammad, from the Madresah, said: “We are not happy about this. When we bought the building we were not told that we could not take the sign down.

“We had not been told Revidge was a conservation area or that the building was listed and now it is costing us to put it right and I don’t know where that money is going to come from. We are not an established group, we are just a few households who formed the Madresah to educate children.”

The councillor for Corporation Park, Arshid Mehmood, said: “They have employed a very reputable company, Bolton Stone Restoration, to restore the damage. Once restored, they will be covering the sign so that if at any time in the future anybody wants to show how it was, they can just remove the plastic and the lettering will still be there.”

While this has been welcomed by residents some believe that the ex-pub was not the best place for an Islamic centre.

A resident of Lynwood Avenue said: “The car park at the back isn’t big enough. They park in back alleys and it can be disturbing as sometimes people arrive about 3am.”

Mr Mohammad said: “We are happy with our car park. We have a car park that can hold 12 cars but there is usually only three or four. “