A PUB manager whose bar was the scene of a baseball bat attack has insisted "this is not a rough place".

Gordon Harness was speaking after three men were jailed for the violent assault at the Queen's Hotel, Accrington.

Mr Harness, 58, who took over the pub in the summer said that he and his partner Brenda Gould, 50, had been working hard to turn around the reputation of the troubled venue.

He said the Queen's is now one of the safest pubs most popular pubs in town.

Last week Accrington men Tahir Ghafoor, 23, of Derby Street, Yasir Hussain, 23, of Ormerod Street, Mohammed Amin, 22, of Steiner Street, Ilias Khan, 28, of Stevenson Street East and Irfan Sarwar, 27, of Monk Street, all admitted violent disorder.

Victim John Varey left the Queen's Hotel, Eastgate, with blood pouring from his head on July 6 after he was attacked with baseball bats.

Mr Harness said: "I don't tolerate violence at this pub and we have been working very hard to improve the standards here. We are on the Pub Watch scheme and take our responsibilities seriously."

The baseball bat attack happened just one week after the pair took over at Queen's Hotel and Mr Harness provided CCTV footage of the incident to police.

It had been closed for a period before they opened in June after the couple moved from Yorkshire.

The bar now focuses on sports coverage with four big screens showing football and horse racing coverage.

He said that the venue is a lot different now.

He added: "Since we took over we have had people coming in and trying it on. They've been trying to start trouble because we didn't know anyone and were new to the area.

"We have been vigilant and we think that we have cleaned our act up.

"This is one of the best pubs in the town now and that is how we want to keep it."