Pepper Alley closed over drugs and disorder

8:30am Tuesday 22nd July 2008

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A POPULAR town centre pub has been closed by a brewery after police threatened to use “crack house” laws to shut it.

And two further bars were temporarily closed when they were found to be flouting strict licensing laws.

Police issued a warning to Pepper Alley bosses following a number of incidents of disorder — including the fatal stabbing of Bolton dad Paul Gilligan — and the discovery of traces of Class-A drugs.

They also found The Griffin in Great Moor Street and Rockafellas Bar in Bradshawgate, were breaching laws because the people listed as the licensees were no longer on site. Both pubs closed voluntarily at the weekend.

The Griffin was open again yesterday and Rockafellas is expected to reopen this week.

But it is unclear at this stage when Pepper Alley — which has been closed since the death of 31-year-old Mr Gilligan earlier this month — will reopen.

A spokesman for Joseph Holt’s brewery — which took the decision to close the pub and sack the manager — said: “We support the police in their efforts to make Bolton town centre a safe place.

“The company will now take over direct control of running the pub. With the full support of the police, it will reopen in time as the Millstone.”