A FAMOUS sausage shop has been renovated to its former glory with the help of a £2,000 grant after councillors decided it was too popular to lose.

Cowman's, in Castle Street, Clitheroe, required £18,000-worth of work, including repairs to its roof and chimney stacks.

Ribble Valley Council decided to give a quarter of its £8,000 conservation and environmental enhancement budget to the listed building because of its prominence and popularity in Clitheroe's main street.

The application for extensive renovation work was made through Standen Estate architect Steve Burke.

The oldest part of the shop dates from the 17th century and the front of the shop was built in the 18th century.

The shop has already starred on TV and played host to a number of celebrities, including Steve Arnold, aka Ashley Peacock from Coronation Street, for a Soaps Secrets programme last year.

Tenant Cliff Cowburn who owns the famous sausage shop is delighted with the quality of the extensive renovation work.

"It is so nice when estate managers really care about the building. They even had mortar chemically tested to make sure it was identical with the original and they put the original bricks back one by one."

Builders even discovered a coin from the reign of Charles II, between 1660 and 1685, in the back wall of the shop which leads out into a court yard. They put it back exactly where they had found it.

Other buildings to benefit from council grants include the Free Masons Arms, Wiswell, which will receive £2,000 towards the £5,400 repair bill; 1 Poole End Lane, Whalley, which will get £1,810 towards the £4,525 repairs needed; and Halstead Farm, West Bradford, which will receive £1,792 of the £4,488 needed.

Work at the Free Masons Arms, within the Wiswell conservation area, includes re-rendering a gable wall and re-building its chimney stacks, as well as refixing pots and replacing numerous Yorkshire grey slates and gutters.

And at Poole End Lane, a listed building set in the Whalley conservation area, and Halstead Farm, also a listed building, extensive work is needed to the roof and gable wall areas.

Planning officer Richard Kirkby said: "We have received numerous requests for grant aid from the listed building and conservation area building owners throughout the borough and in money terms, demand has exceeded supply.

"Some of the work has begun on some of the sites, even as funds had only been agreed in principle."