Popular bar could be swept away by plans to transform Leyland town centre

But the first of six planning applications to be approved as part of a grand masterplan could see a popular bar swept away to make room.

Council officers have given the thumbs up to a new Church Place development alongside the United Reform Church on the main street. The plan includes the demolition of three retail units on Hough Lane, one of which houses the bar No 55 Leyland.

A building at the rear, Sovereign House, will also be flattened. And in their place a three-storey block will be constructed, set back from the road to form a public space, with a restaurant earmarked on ground level and four apartments on the first and second floors.

The plans for 51-55a Hough Lane are part of a wider project to give Leyland's linear town centre more of a focal point. In addition to Church Place there will be a larger Market Square, next to a regenerated Market Hall, which will also have shops and apartments and a Business Advice Skills Enterprise hub called Base2 where individuals and businesses can access learning, skills, training and support.

It is all part of a major facelift for the town centre with the funding coming from the Leyland Town Deal which attracted a £25m share of a £3.6bn national pot to help towns across the UK transform their economic growth prospects with projects focused on enterprise, transport, skills and culture.

Leyland, which has a population of 39,000, has set up a Town Deal project team to deliver the transformation. Their vision is for Leyland to become "a digitally connected carbon neutral town where local enterprises thrive, skilled residents have good jobs and our communities feel connected to a new revitalised town centre."

The plans for 51-55a Hough Lane will see the demolition of the three commercial units - one of them a former Barnardo's charity shop which housed a Winter Wonderland pop-up bar over Christmas - and a brand new building put in their place.

Sitting right next door to the United Reform Church, the public space called Church Place will be a "pocket park" which it is hoped will enhance the setting of the Grade II Listed religious building.