A PUB raided by police as part of a major crackdown on suspected drug activity will stay closed until further notice.

Following Friday night’s Operation Converge, carried out at the Brownhill Arms, Whalley New Road, police have served a closure order on the premises.

And now Thwaites, which runs the pub, is looking to appoint new management before re-opening, police said.

Eight men were arrested after 40 officers descended on the pub and a separate address in Blackburn in the first of several high-profile raids across Lancashire targeting drug crime.

Town centre Sergeant Dave Clarke said: “We’ve met with Thwaites Brewery who are the owners and the pub will be shut for the immediate future.

“It is not a formal police closure order, but it has been done in conjuction with Thwaites.

“They have been very supportive of police action and will be looking at re-opening with new management.”

The Brownhill Arms is the first pub in Blackburn to have been closed following a drugs raid.

But police said there would be more across the county in a month-long crackdown.

The initiative was sparked by fears that people were supplying drugs in pubs and clubs ‘on the back foot’.

Police said they had carried out the raid on Friday as ‘those engaged in the supply of drugs would not have expected it’.