A NEW wine bar has been opened in Whalley in the former Conservative Club headquarters.

The property in Queen Street was put up for sale in 2013 after the club experienced a dwindling in its membership numbers.

It was bought for an undisclosed fee in May by Margaret Hughes and her partner Simon Leach who set about refurbishing and converting the building.

Around 25 new jobs have been created when Brady's Wine Bar, named after one of Margaret's four sons, was opened last week.

The couple from Brockhall Village successfully requested to extend the opening hours of the business to 9.30am to 1.30am at a meeting of Ribble Valley Borough Council's licensing sub-committee in December.

The new owners have spent £250,000 renovating the interior of the old club including exposing the original beams which had been hidden from view behind office tiles.

The club was established in 1893 and was housed in the old Assembly Rooms building, most of which has now been converted into Rendezvous nightclub.

The club, which had cut its ties with the Conservative Party, opened up its membership to women in 1997 and had around 100 members when it was forced to close.

Known as ‘The Connie Club’, the premises which included a snooker room, bar, kitchen, function room and a pool room, was on the market for £150,000.

Margaret said: "The reaction to the bar so far has been brilliant and people have been queuing up outside because we have been so busy.

"We had a soft opening on Wednesday just for friends and family but we have been crazy busy every day since.

"It's great that we have got to this stage and we are both very happy with it."

Nigel Evans, the Conservative general election candidate for the Ribble Valley, who attended the grand opening, said: "It's amazing what high-quality places we have in the Ribble Valley and this new wine bar just adds to that even more.

"It's the sort of quality that you would expect in some of the best places in London.

"It's great that this labour of love has allowed more of the community into the building whereas before it was only for members.

"It's also great that they have kept a pain of glass with Whalley Conservative Club written on it and moved it painstakingly from it's original position to above a fireplace.

"It just adds to the whole feel of the place."