A bistro restaurant has opened on the site of the former Ritz cinema and Barnes Furniture Store.

Hundreds of people enjoyed a special open day at the Retro Bar on Cannon Street in Accrington on Saturday ahead of its official opening on Wednesday.

It comes as council licence bosses are set to decide on an application to grant an alcohol and live music licence at the venue, which is hoping to attract the large Polish community as well as the general public.

The Retro Bar is being run by friends Malgorzata Cichorek and Sylwia Skryplonek with support from their families and is their first business venture.

Malgorzata, from Clayton-le-Moors, said they had a ‘fantastic response’ from the public at the open day and are now ‘very excited’ for the future.

She said: “We had hundreds of people here on Saturday. There were a lot of friends and family but most of the people were local and had seen us on Facebook.

“People were telling us this is just what the place needed. We are very excited from the thoughts and feedback we have.”

Malgorzata, who previously lived in Baxenden, said their food and drinks will cater for all nationalities and ages and they are also taking on private party bookings for up to 50 people.

She said: “The Polish community is quite big in Accrington and there is nothing else for them. However, we don’t want people to think this is just for Polish people. It’s for everyone of every age and we have a mixed menu. It is a dream for me to do this and having a place to make people happy.

“When we first saw this place we loved it and knew it was where we wanted to be.

“A lot of people have helped us get to this point and we want to say a big thank you to them. We don’t want this place to be treated as a pub. It is a family place for meals and coffees and we will be doing private functions too. We already have a couple of Christenings booked for May.”

The Retro Bar will open from Tuesday to Sunday including until 10pm on Friday, 11pm on Saturday and 7pm on Sunday.

Hyndburn council is set to decide on Thursday whether to grant the business a licence to offer live music and alcohol until 3am to allow for private functions. One objection was sent to the council citing potential issues with noise, parking and anti-social behaviour.