Leyland pub wants a beer garden overlooking the town’s busiest shopping street

But a wrangle over the siting of a platform lift to a new decked area of the Leyland Lion has put the planning application back more than two months.

Highways bosses at County Hall objected to the plans for the street-facing beer garden because the lift encroached onto the pavement below.

Owners JD Wetherspoon submitted a succession of amended drawings until they eventually re-sited the lift inside the building - leading LCC to withdraw its objection.

The scheme will create a raised "front garden" with seats, plants and a toughened glass balustrade. The pub already has a 1,540 square foot beer garden at the rear.

It is intended the new one will run along the length of the pub to join up with a small area of seating which has been used for outdoor drinking with a pavement licence since the pandemic.

Initially the giant alehouse chain submitted plans for 22 seats to add to the six already in use. But now the lift has been moved inside, the company has upped that figure to a total of 33.

County council officers raised concerns when the first plans went in because they felt the lift would take up part of the public pavement outside the pub.

One officer said: "I have concerns that the adopted footway at this location has heavy pedestrian traffic due to it being located in a district centre.

"The adopted footway would become too narrow for too long a stretch, given the proposed encroachment of the forecourt and accessible lift, along with the existing safety railings at this location."

Subsequent plans were put in, but each time they were opposed by County Hall due to the tight pavement issue.

There were also concerns that a pedestrian crossing outside the pub could be affected if customers were queueing to use the lift, leaving motorists unsure if people were waiting to cross.

The Leyland Lion, named after one of the buses Leyland Motors used to make at a factory down the road, opened 10 years ago in the town’s former Post Office building. In August 2016 it expanded to take in a former charity shop next door.