TWO Darwen venues have been named as the top places to visit by the constituency’s Conservative parliamentary candidate Jake Berry.

The Black Bull in Broken Stone Road, Tockholes, and Ocean Palace in Bolton Road, Darwen, won best pub and best restaurant respectively.

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The competition, organised by Mr Berry and supported by East Lancashire businesses ISSL Web Design and Orbital Design and Print, asked Darwen residents to vote for their favourite pub, café or restaurant.

Mr Berry said: “This competition was a small way of letting our local pubs, restaurants and cafes know how much we appreciate and support them.

“I was overwhelmed by the amount of support we received, with thousands of local people voting and hundreds of fantastic businesses nominated for awards.

“Some of the categories were really close – well done to the four winning establishments and congratulations to the other businesses that were nominated.”

Thousands of votes were cast in competition, which was a follow-up to the two annual Best Independent Shop votes organised by Mr Berry in previous years.