A PUB in Ramsbottom which looks to employ disadvantaged young people and grow its own food is in the running for another national award.

The Eagle and Child has been shortlisted for the People’s Favourite category in the Sustainable Restaurant Awards (SRA), after owner Glen Duckett invested his life savings to turn a former boarded-up boozer into a thriving business.

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The transformed garden provides much of the menu’s fruit and vegetables, while its 21 hens supply the eggs. The award-wining Sunday lunches and classic Lancashire dishes use high welfare local meat.

Glen Duckett, 36, who is originally from Clayton-le-Moors, re-opened the Whalley Road pub in 2011. It had been closed for 18 months.

The company is a social enterprise and employs 24 people, many of whom have been in trouble with the police or suffer from learning disabilities, but have been supported into employment through his EAT Pennines initiative, which offers them training in the industry.

He said: “This is brilliant because it recognises the whole reason for us being here. We are about locally-sourced home-grown and seasonal produce, reducing food miles and recycling, and putting something back into the community.”

The business has previously won several regional awards, and scooped the Observer’s best Sunday lunch award in 2013.

It will be up against an Aberdeenshire chippy, a Leeds café and restaurants in Cheltenham and Brighton for the SRA award, which is being run for the first time this year and had more than 850 nominations.

Judges rated entrants on their sourcing, affect on the environment and society, as well as their passion.

The winner will be selected through a public vote, which can be entered by tweeting using the hashtag #srafavevote and naming your choice, or by visiting thesra.org/vote.

They will receive the award from SRA president Raymond Blanc, at Oval Space in east London on February 23.

Mark Linehan, managing director of the SRA awards, said: “We have been bowled over, not only by the public response to this our first ever consumer voted award, but also by the incredible passion and quality of the nominations. We already work with thousands of restaurants that really care about the provenance of the food they serve and their communities, but it’s inspiring to read about hundreds more that are taking sustainable dining to a whole new level.”