A council is taking landowners to court over the illegal demolition of a former Grade II listed pub.

Ribble Valley Borough Council has started proceedings in response to the demolition of the Punch Bowl Inn in Hurst Green, after landowners, Donelan Trading Ltd unlawfully razed the pub to the ground in June last year.

An initial court hearing is scheduled for March.

Residents were left angered after The Punch Bowl Inn, which had been empty for years, was knocked down.

The pub has a colourful and symbolic history - visited by highwaymen Dick Turpin and Ned King in the late 1730s and the ghost of ‘Old Ned’ was said to still roam the pub.

Lancashire Telegraph: The Punch Bowl Inn in Hurst Green was demolished in June. Planning permission is being sought for 15 caravans on land behind what was the former pub

Standing in Longridge Road since the 1720s, the Grade II listed building was put up for sale for £375,000 in 2013.

After it was sold to Donelan Trading Ltd of Wilpshire, the company applied for permission to convert the pub into five holiday lets and a cafe, which included demolition of certain parts of the building and the erection of an extension, as well as a pitch for 20 static caravans.

This was rejected by Ribble Valley Borough Council in 2016.

However, a second application was lodged in 2018 for a similar development but this time with a 'pitch holiday lodge park with 15 units'.

This was approved with the conditions by the council in the same year.

Lancashire Telegraph: The Punch Bowl Inn in Hurst Green was demolished in June. Planning permission is being sought for 15 caravans on land behind what was the former pub

In 2019, Donelan's applied to the council for an unsafe roof to be removed and replaced with new truss and slate roof, as well as removal of defective render to assess the quality of stonework beneath.

The application stated: "If good quality stonework, to be cleaned and kept. If not suitable rendered areas to be renewed with K render."

This was refused by the council.

Ribble Valley Borough Council said on June 16 that they were looking into the matter, and had been continuing to investigate since then.

On Wednesday, Ribble Valley Borough Council’s director of economic development and planning, Nicola Hopkins, said: “We have started proceedings in response to the demolition of the former Grade II-listed Punch Bowl Inn in Hurst Green and an initial hearing is scheduled for Blackburn Magistrates Court in March.”

Lancashire Telegraph: punch bowl inn

In December a planning application was submitted to the council, seeking permission for a change of use to land at the rear of the old pub so that a 15-strong static caravan holiday park could be built on the site.

The land - which was formerly a car park and recreational area attached to the Punch Bowl Inn - as well as housing the caravans, would be given over to a car park with enough room for 30 vehicles.