THE new owners of a Radcliffe pub shut down after a large-scale fight have vowed to make it a pillar of the community if it re-opens.

Liam Howarth and Tom Kennedy, who took over the Lord Raglan in June, are eager to give the Water Street pub a fresh start with a family-friendly atmosphere.

It was closed by police in May after an incident that left two men with injuries 'consistent with stab wounds', and later had its license revoked.

A new license application was made last month, which would allow for the sale and consumption of alcohol and live music until half past midnight every day.

Mr Howarth, a former soldier who now works in the wind energy industry, said: “This place has a really close community around it and we want to tap into that.

“There will be zero tolerance for any kind of misbehaviour, and we will work closely with licensing and with the police to make sure that is the case.

“The first thing we decided to do was cut the late license. You can get a lot more trouble if you’re open until three in the morning, and we want this to be a real family place. There aren’t a lot of places just setting up with families in mind these days.”

The Radcliffe Times reported last week that several neighbours had expressed concerns over the pub re-opening, after what police had described as a 'history of other incidents of violence at the premises.'

Mr Kennedy, who is the pub’s designated premises supervisor and previously ran the Two Tubs in Bury, said: “The community has suffered in Radcliffe because of pubs shutting down. You can’t do the same sort of pub crawls that we used to see.

“This place was a great pub on weekdays at teatime and in the early evening and we want to get back to that.

“I helped see the Two Tubs through its renovations and turned that place around, so hopefully we can do the same here.”

The pair have been friends for 15 years and have had a long-standing ambition to buy a pub.

Mr Howarth, from Greenmount, added: “We are looking forward to getting out into the community and introducing ourselves to the residents.

“There’s a lot of work that needs doing here and we want to take suggestions from the locals on what they want to see in the pub.”

The 33-year-old hit the headlines in 2009 after tackling a rifle-wielding drunk to the ground while working as a security guard at North Manchester General Hospital.