A NEW lease of life is in store for the site of Accrington’s former lap dancing club after proposals for a restaurant and bar were approved.

Riast Khan, based in Rawtenstall, wants to reinvent the former iCandy premises, opposite the town hall and market, as the bar for a new restaurant below.

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The ground floor of the building, at the corner of Blackburn Road, and Dutton Street, formerly traded as the Quatro Brasserie and would not require new planning permission.

iCandy opened in July 2012 but encountered a huge public backlash, with a 1,500-signature petition raised in opposition to its arrival.

And while it operated for a brief period, the venture never really took off and a decision was taken not to renew a sexual entertainment licence for the site last October.

Planning agent David Hancock said in a report: “The project is to bring the building back into use as a restaurant on the ground floor, for which a permission exists, and to convert the first floor into a bar which will serve both the public and the customers of the restaurant.”

The bar would comfortably house 110 people, according to Mr Hancock.

Anr Mr Hancok added that the upstairs would be redecorated ‘in a more appropriate style’.

That was after the pole dancing and lap dancing equipment was removed.

The building was home to McDonald’s in the 1980s and 1990s.