A decision to demolish an abandoned pub that has attracted vandals has finally been taken.
The Lever Arms pub on Top O’ Th’ Lane in Darcy Lever will be pulled down to make way for potential new flats.
This comes after a long saga of debates and delays, according to former councillor Sean Hornby who has said that the pub was a magnet for vandals who had set fires there.
He said: “Obviously as a landlord myself it always a shame to see a pub go but this pub when it was empty was not in a good state.
“There were no offers coming in, there was vandalism and it got set on fire a few times.”
He added: “I’ve been saying for a long time it needs to be demolished.
“Despite rumours that it was a Grade II listed building, it actually wasn’t.”
The current application to demolish the Lever Arms was put before Bolton Council on December 28 last year, with plans to build flats on the site having been debated long before then.
Under the plans eight new apartments will be built, one a triplex with three bedrooms, one a duplex with two bedrooms, four two bedroom flats and two one bedroom flats.
There will also be a community café at the basement level with eight parking spaces.
The pub had begun to provoke safety concerns given its derelict state but plans to develop the space into flats were held up by recurring issues.
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The redevelopment was held up during Covid pandemic, for the need for bat surveys to take place and for safety assessments with an abandoned mine shaft.
At one point, a petition had been launched to try and save the pub which attracted more than 100 signatures.
But Mr Hornby, who served as councillor for the Little Lever and Darcy Lever area until this year’s local elections argued at the time that this provided “false hope” to the community.
He said: “There was nothing left to save at that point, I’ve been in that building several time.
“But at long last the right decision has been taken, the pub will come down.”
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