An Accrington town centre pub is set to re-open later this month following a £20,000 renovation.
The Calder Inn, on Blackburn Road, will change its name to ‘Varsity Accrington’ and create between 15 and 20 jobs.
Licensee Martin Angus took over the pub with his business partner Malcolm Bennett after it suddenly closed down last month.
Martin, who operates the successful Varsity Bangor pub and previously worked for the Barracuda group in the Accrington area, said he hopes to return the venue to its former glory.
He said: “I used to work for the company that owned the Calder so I always knew it. It’s had a turbulent few years.
“I know what kind of pub it used to be and the kind of money that it can do and they way it’s gone over the last few years.
“It’s had several different managers and has been closed down a few times.
“It’s about getting the right people in there to run it and I know we can do it as I know the pub. We are not going in blind.”
Martin said they are currently investing around £20,000 into the pub facilities and will look to increase that amount once the pub fully opens.
He said: “There was nothing left inside so we inherited an empty shell.
“We were hoping we could just get it cleaned up and opened and get trading and then in the future look to spend a bit of money on it.
“However, it was nowhere near ready to trade so we decided to do it now, get rid of the name and the reputation, completely re-brand it and have a completely different bar.
“It’s taken a lot more work than we thought.
“We are hoping once it’s up and running we can invest more money into it but we want to build it up before we start ploughing thousands into it.”
Martin said they had hoped to open the pub on Friday, November 18, however this has now been delayed until later this month.
He said: “We were hoping it would be this Friday but all the TVs we’ve ordered are still in transit. We don’t want to open half-heartedly with stuff missing.
“We are hoping it will now be towards the end of the month, possibly the last Friday.”
