THE only pub in a rural Ribble Valley village has been closed.

The Black Bull in Rimington shut its doors for the final time at the end of October and a planning application has now been submitted to convert half of the premises into a house.

Owners Katherine Lachance and Steve Hodgson took over the Rimington Lane pub in 2011 and turned it into a traditional French country inn.

However the pair closed the pub in summer 2012 for six months before it reopened under new management.

Bob Whittaker, chairman of Rimington Parish Council, said: “It was always going to be hard to sustain a business like that in a village such as this. There are only around 480 residents in the village and not everyone is interested in going to the pub.

“Rimington Lane does not have enough traffic going through it and the pub relied too heavily on drawing people from outside the village.

“It’s also a road to nowhere and it would have been very difficult for it to have worked long term.

“It’s a shame because it’s the only pub in the village and now residents have to get in their cars in order to have a pint.

“The pub was popular every now and again but never consistently and it was not open on enough days.

“A lot of money was spent on it by the owners when they first took over and they tried to make it work as best they could.”

Jocelyn Neve, landlady of The Assheton Arms in our neighbouring Downham, said: “It’s a shame that it has closed because I know the residents wanted to keep a pub open there.

“It was a village hub really and it will be a big loss to it. It’s always sad when a rural pub closes down.”