AN old cinema and social club will be demolished and replaced with an apartment complex if planners give the green light.

Plans submitted to Hyndburn Council would see the old Grand Social Club, in Blackburn Road, Great Harwood, knocked down, and a three-storey block of nine apartments take its place.

The town centre site, which has a bowling green at the back, once housed the Presby Theatre.

In addition to a one-bedroom apartment, and eight two-bedroom apartments, 13 car parking spaces are planned for the 600sq metre site.

Developers BAC Property Limited, an Ashton-under-Lyne firm, said in planning documents: “The building is at the end of its useful life and the propos-ed use is residential.

“The site falls within the urban area, and is within walking distance of Great Harwood town centre.

“As the location is highly sustainable, located on a main bus route and close to the centre of Great Harwood, we would suggest that there is sufficient parking to avoid hazards in the adjacent highway.”

Great Harwood councillor Ian Robinson said: “Traditionally, the building was one of the last cinemas in Great Harwood.

“I remember it as the Grand Cinema, and I used to go as a child.

“There were two or three cinemas in the 1950s and they slowly all got closed. Then it was a social club, and it was doing really well.

“But, as with most clubs in the country, it slowly dec- lined, and for the last 10 years it has been a blot on the landscape.

“It’s on the main road into the town and it looks a mess.

“We would welcome anything like this for a building that is in a state of dereliction.”

The documents will be examined by planning officers at Hyndburn Borough Council.