Blackburn pub dating back 300 years set for demolition - here's what's happening

The former Blackamoor Inn on the corner of Roman Road and Stopes Brow, Lower Darwen, has been vacant since 2019 and is currently boarded up. Now Blackburn with Darwen Council have applied to its own planning department for permission to flatten the building, which has roots in the 1700s.

Background

The pub - once owned by Thwaites - shut permanently only two years after a much-celebrated reopening. The pub first closed in the summer of 2016, and an action group backed by then-Blackburn MP Kate Hollern was formed to give it a new lease of life. Residents had considered registering the pub as an 'asset of community value'.

Donna Almond, previous owner of Uncle Jack's in Ewood, took the pub on and regulars helped to complete a full refurbishment before a grand reopening in April 2017. However, just two years later, Donna took to social media to say she couldn’t continue trading, with the lack of a beer garden severely hampering trade.

What will happen to the site?

After demolition, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council want to complete landscaping works and widen the pavement in that location, “providing benefit to the community”. A planning statement says: “It is very likely that the adjacent roads and pavements will need to be closed to facilitate the demolition works, with the erection of minimum 3m high hoarding.”