ANOTHER pub is to close – and a second has been narrowly saved – as the smoking ban and cheap supermarket booze continue to take their toll on Accrington’s dwindling pub trade.

The Hope and Anchor and the Broadway, both on Whalley Road, had announced they were facing immediate closure as a result of a drop in customers.

The Hope and Anchor was saved at the 11th hour when a holding company stepped in as tenants.

But the Broadway has not been so lucky and will close on 7 July when tenants Jacque-line Gregson, 42, and her partner Ken Sharples, 39, leave after a 12-month tenancy with Enterprise Inns.

Jacqueline said: "It was a real shock. We literally woke up one morning and there was a for sale sign outside.

"The pub trade in Accrington is really struggling thanks to large chains that can charge as little as £1.20 a pint all day, every day.

"We used to have the Abbey in Bank Street before we moved here but now we can’t wait to get out of the trade and get steady jobs."

The couple are inviting all their customers to a fancy dress party at the pub to celebrate Ken’s 40th birthday on Saturday 28 June. They are then hoping to go out with a bang by hosting a farewell party on 5 July.

Stephen Cuncarr, 53, the long-serving landlord of the Hope and Anchor, is having to leave the pub after 10 years as a tenant for owners Trust Inns.

He said: "It’s really upsetting that, after all the hard work we’ve put it, we have to leave the trade because it’s not paying enough. There is a big shortage of customers and money in Accrington. The entire trade is dead and it’s people like us who are suffering."

Stephen, who ran the pub with his wife Pauline, 52, added: "The pub trade in Accrington has been suffering a long time but the smoking ban really killed it off.

"Traditional locals like mine find it very hard to compete with these new fun pubs which are part of large chains and are therefore able to keep their costs low and their beer cheap.

"Three years ago a pint of beer in my pub was £2 and now it’s £2.50. You can buy four or five cans from the supermarkets for that, and who can blame people for doing it?"

The latest crisis come less than a year after the Observer exclusively revealed that time had been called on more than a dozen pubs in Hyndburn.

Many are still lying derelict and some, including the Merrie England in Great Harwood and the Great Eastern in Accrington, are being converted into flats.