A TOWN centre pub has been transformed and is set to reopen under a new name.

The Jubilee, in Blakey Moor, had a troubled history and was well known for being one of the town’s ‘rougher’ pubs.

In February last year, a man was arrested after having been seen dropping a gun on the dancefloor of the venue.

And in 2008 police closed the pub after a mass brawl involving 30 pre-Christmas revellers.

But the pub has been taken over by husband and wife team, Paul and Michelle Corrigan and has been turned into an Irish-themed bar that will also serve food, called Corrigan’s Irish Pub.

Mr Corrigan said: “It’s about getting away from The Jubilee and keeping away from its past as much as possible.

“That’s why we’ve gone for the Irish theme as it’s completely different.

“We’ve redecorated it completely, painted it green and given it a really good clean. It’s miles different from before with traditional homemade food and I really want to push our cask ales.”

Corrigan’s Irish Pub is due to open on Friday, and will open every day from 10am, until 11pm, Monday to Thursday and midnight Friday to Saturday. Food will be served until 9pm.

The change comes as two other Blackburn pubs have been re-let following interim management by Winterhill Leisure.

Also enjoying a new lease of life is the Aqueduct Inn in Bolton Road, which had been closed for a number of weeks, and the Lord Raglan in Kings Road, that had been on the brink of closure when Winterhill Leisure negotiated a support package with Daniel Thwaites earlier this year.

Winterhill Leisure, a Blackburn-based national interim pub management firm specialising in managing distressed pub businesses, negotiated new landlords to come in, with Thwaites brewery.