The final pub which surrounded the historic Thwaites Brewery is set to be knocked down to make way for town centre regeneration.

Set in Jacobean-style Victorian premises, The Fleece Inn, Penny Street, is set to be demolished following a fire in 2022.

Blackburn with Darwen Council had bought the building in 2021, but extensive internal damage caused by a suspected arson attack meant the project was too expensive.

Conservative Councillor for planning Paul Marrow said: “It's a shame it's going but, as the report to the exec board mentioned several months ago, it had internal fire damage and it was not practical to repair.

“Many a good night in there and it is a shame it couldn’t be saved.”

In a report published in February, the demolition proposal was needed to pave the way for work on the £250million Blackburn Town Centre masterplan to become a reality.

It also authorises the use of the Penny Street and Starkie Street car parks as development land for the 10-year scheme, which aims to create 1,000 jobs.

Thwaites moved the site of the brewery to Mellor Brook in 2018 and the building, alongside The Veteran on Eanam and Uncle Tom’s Cabin, off Barbara Castle Way, was demolished when it was pulled down in 2019.

The Stables, behind which the famous Thwaites’ dray horses were housed, was another casualty.

Plans to pull down the former Daniels bar, which was used latterly as Thwaites’ training centre, on Penny Street, were confirmed earlier this year and the seven-acre brewery site was set to become a new Morrisons before the supermarket pulled out in March.

 

Marks and Spencer were offered the site by the council but they remain determined to complete their move to Frontier Park. 

Cllr Phil Riley said: "The general view now is that the building is not retrievable, and it will be demolished to become part of the land assembly for that area on the market.

"We are currently looking for what we might do next on there but for now we are focussing on the skills campus."

Elsewhere in the town centre, the former Charles Napier rock pub looks destined to become a restaurant and flats and a similar fate has been earmarked for The Adelphi in Railway Road.

A Blackburn with Darwen Council spokesperson stated in February: "The fire happened in February 2022. At the time, the police treated it as suspected arson.

"Nobody has ever been arrested. The fire caused extensive internal damage to the property."