A DERELICT pub set for a £350,000 revamp is to be renamed after a former Burnley FC chairman.

The Park View pub, opposite Burnley FC, is to be renamed The Kilby Tavern, after Barry Kilby, the club’s former chairman, now vice chairman.

The renaming of the pub is part of a planned major refurbishment of the Park View, which has been closed since the beginning of the year.

It will see the pub transformed into a family friendly community local offering food, a great selection of beers and ciders and live sport on eight large screens.

The Higgin Street pub will also host live music on a regular basis.

The Kilby Tavern will be the only pub within a half mile radius of the club to offer lunchtime and evening food and on match days will provide a takeaway service.

Mr Kilby, 69, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012, said: “It came as a surprise and it was an honour to be asked for the pub to be renamed after me.

“The plans will be a real asset, not just to Burnley on match days but to the whole area.”

Mr Kilby took over as chairman of Burnley in 1998 when it was at the bottom of the third tier of English football and in big financial difficulties.

He helped turn the club around and saw it rise to the Premier League.

In 2012 Mr Kilby stepped down from his role after his prostate cancer diagnosis.

He has since returned as vice chairman and established the Barry Kilby Prostate Cancer Appeal, which has saved hundreds of lives offering subsidised prostate cancer tests at football grounds.

The refurbishment, which will start once a licensee has been found to take on the pub, will see a complete overhaul of the pub, creating indoor seating for 110 and outside for 122.

The look will be reminiscent of an American sports diner with booth seating as well as industrial looking freestanding tables and chairs.

It comes after pub The Princess Royal - one of the closest pubs to Turf Moor - has renamed itself The Royal Dyche after Burnley manager Sean Dyche guided the club to the Europa League qualifying rounds last season after the club’s 7th place finish.