RIMINGTON residents are being called on to take over the village’s only pub.

The Black Bull shut its doors for the final time at the end of October by its owners, Steve Hodgson and Katherine Lachance, and has been put up for sale for £400,000.

The pub was added to the borough council’s ‘Asset of Community Value’ register by the parish council when it previously closed in 2012, which allows a community group the first option to buy the pub if it was put up for sale.

A group would have six weeks to register their interest and a further six months to raise the money.

A public meeting will be held at the Rimington Memorial Institute on Wednesday at 7.30pm to discuss the future of the pub.

A planning application to convert half of the premises into a house was approved by the borough council last month.

The owners have said that if no group comes forward to buy the property then a new application to convert the whole building into a residential dwelling will be submitted.

They took over the Rimington Lane pub in 2011 and turned it into a traditional French country inn.

However the pair closed the pub in summer 2012 for six months before it reopened under new management.

In an e-mail to Bob Whittaker, Rimmington Parish Council chairman, Mr Hodgson said: “Katherine and I have considered our options in light of the business failing again and are now firmly of the view that there is no longer any realistic possibility of achieving a viable conventional pub and restaurant business at the Black Bull.

“We accept that the community may still be of the view that it is possible to establish some sort of community enterprise and to create a viable business we are therefore offering the Black Bull for sale under the scheme arrangements.

“We imagine that one of the biggest obstacles the community would face if it did wish to take this course of action would be accessing finance given the track record of recent years and the general state of the market for pubs and restaurants.”

Mr Whittaker, said: “It’s not something that I would want the parish council to get involved in but I’m interested in hearing what other villagers have to say.

“It’s a hard location to run a pub because it’s a rural village but there is potential there.

“It would be a shame if a buyer or a group was not found and the pub was changed into a house.”