Former Conservative club in Walton-le-Dale set to become new specialist bar

Sean O’Hagan, along with wife Debbie, bought the old club at auction and decided to turn it into a specialist bar, Taps and Wine, for the community.

He said: “Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of bars shut down in the area, so we always thought about running a small one ourselves.

“We went through the process of changing the planning from a club to a bar, trying to hit a more unique market.

“We have put so much of our own time into it and really hope it benefits the community.”

After applying for planning permission, the couple hit a road block with the borough council, who refused to allow outside seating at the bar due to fears it may cause noise pollution.

“South Ribble Borough Council refused to let us have outside seating because of noise pollution reasons,” said Sean.

“It doesn’t make sense, because the traffic on the road outside up until 9pm is horrendous anyway.”

And Sean had to overcome further setbacks.

During their busy months developing the old Conservative club, Sean also developed osteoarthritis in his hip which also slowed down the process for the new business.

The bar, on Chorley Road, will look to serve coffee, cakes and light bites in the new year, and will offer six hand pumps of cask ales and 10 hand taps of craft beers and ciders.