New mosque approved for site of historic Blackburn pub

The Hare and Hounds pub, in Lammack Road, Blackburn, poured its last pint in October 2025, after continued attempts to turn the 226-year-old pub into a profit-generating business failed.

Its conversion into a religious building will be the final nail in the coffin of the town’s historic Dutton's Brewery, as the Hare and Hounds was among the first major pubs in its empire and upon its closure, was its last still standing.

But following a meeting of Blackburn with Darwen Council’s Planning and Highways Committee, the vacant pub property has been approved for a conversion into a place of worship.

Blackburn with Darwen Council's planning committee approved the conversion (Image: Will Morgan)

The Lammack Community Association, backed by the EG Group’s Issa brothers, worked with Urban Future Planning to submit a proposal for the empty site in January, after outgrowing its small religious premises on the other side of the road.

In the officer’s report submitted to the committee, it stated: “This premises is no longer considered fit for purpose due to its modest size.

"Therefore, its relocation to the proposal building would provide an expanded and better-quality facility which would continue to cater for the needs of the local Muslim community.”

In setting out their case for the change of use of the Lammack Road premises, the applicants state that despite recent attempts to improve the offering at the Hare and Hounds, including permission from the council to add a café in 2024, the pub ‘continued to operate at a loss.’

They identified the root of this continued decline as being linked to the demographic shift that has taken place over the past 25 years in the surrounding Beardwood with Lammack ward.

The conversion will also include the construction of a new washing area that wraps around the side of the building (Image: Urban Future Planning/Blackburn with Darwen Council)

After being granted permission from the planning committee on Thursday (July 16), the old Hare and Hounds will now have a new way to serve the needs of local people.

When the Lammack Community Association moves over from its small spot in Whinney Lane, a number of alterations will have been made to the exterior of the building, which first opened to the public in 1799.

This will include the removal of a shed adjoining the building and the construction of a new single-storey extension that will wrap around the side of the former pub, with toilets and other facilities for the purpose of washing before entering the ground floor prayer room.

The old pub’s first floor will be used as an office with a kitchen, library, and storage space for the local community group’s bigger and better place of worship.

The side of the property where the new one-storey extension will be built (Image: LT)

With this new mosque drastically increasing the number of vehicles likely using the site, concerns were raised during the application process by Blackburn with Darwen’s Highways department regarding its significant shortfall in parking, with officials estimating that the building would need around 52 spaces.

A number of objections were also filed by nearby residents, primarily objecting to the likely increase in traffic issues resulting from its new use, though many supported its new purpose as a place of worship.

This traffic problem was made more difficult by the proposed wraparound building, which reduced the site’s parking spaces from eight to six.

However, a formal agreement was reached with the nearby Queen Elizabeth Grammar School to resolve the issue.

As worshippers at their current Whinney Lane premises already use the lower car park of the school’s Harrison Playing Fields for any overspill, the community association now has it in writing that they can use up to 50 spaces when the new mosque is in use.

In handing their decision, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s planning committee attached a number of conditions requiring these parking issues to be resolved before the building is reopened as a place of worship.

They also stipulated that the building cannot be used for ‘social functions, wedding receptions, funerals or as a Madressa’, in order to reduce the number of vehicles using the site.