End of road for another Burnley pub? (From Lancashire Telegraph)

End of road for another Burnley pub?

4:34pm Monday 21st July 2008

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A BREWERY has called time on a Burnley pub.

The Brunshaw Hotel in Brunshaw Road has been put up for sale for £300,000 by its owning brewery, Enterprise Inns, because of falling trade.

It is likely that the pub, which was established more than 40 years ago, will be sold for development.

If it closes, it will be the latest in a series of East Lancashire pubs to shut as the industry faces one of its biggest ever crises.

A spokeswoman for Enterprise Inns said: “We have had a number of tenants that have tried to make the Brunshaw a viable business but have not been able to do this.”

Steve Manifold, from Nolan Redshaw, the Bury-based agents selling the premises, said: “The pub has been up for sale for about a month. There has been a bit of interest in it but the market is slow at the moment in general.

“Our client would consider alternative use for the building, and I believe they would prefer it if it was bought as something other than a pub.”

The brewery spokeswoman added: “We would welcome interest from any area.” She declined to comment on the current market climate, but the downturn in trade has been well documented.

A recent Lancashire Telegraph investigation found that some 59 pubs had closed in East Lancashire, with some becoming derelict and others sold on for development such as apartments and restaurants.

The smoking ban introduced a year ago hit many hard, and experts say the current credit crunch and gradual change of drinking culture is compounding the problem.

According to the Campaign for Real Ale, 57 pubs are closed across the country each month.

Geoff Sutcliffe, from the East Lancs Licensed Victuallers’ Association, said that it was an “extremely difficult” time.

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