A COUPLE who ran a popular pub for more than four years have explained why they packed up and left, leaving it temporarily closed.

Landlady Barbara Thistlethwaite and partner Steve Bentham, who ran The Crown Inn, on Whalley Road, Accrington, say a rent increase made it impossible for them to carry on.

They say they issued owners Punch Taverns with six months' notice of their decision to leave but a spokesman at Punch said they had not received it.

Mr Bentham, 35, told the Observer: "We gave our notice and the six months was up so we went. We have other jobs to do now. It's Punch Taverns' responsibility. We have done our bit.

"We have heard umpteen rumours about why we have left but we had notified our business development manager, Punch Taverns and anyone who wanted to know."

Mr Bentham, who was born and brought up in Accrington, said the pub was a regular stop-off point for Stanley football fans which helped create a "fantastic atmosphere".

He added: "This was the first pub that we had run but we will never do it again. The people who came into the pub were fantastic, brilliant, but we've had enough."

A Punch Taverns spokesman said: "We are aware that the licensee has made a decision to close the Crown. Punch had not received any prior warning or correspondence but we have written to the licensee to seek reasons for the closure."