35 jobs will be created in Colne when a former restaurant re-opens as a pub following a £1.4million makeover.

Pub giant JD Wetherspoon is to open The Wallace Hartley on the site of a former Greek taverna in Church Street on Friday, November 28.

A total of 35 new full and part time jobs are being created at the pub, specialising in real ales, serving a wide range of beers, from local and regional brewers.

The pub, which will also serve food, features a bar on the ground floor, in a newly built extension, and a beer garden at the rear of the building, on the lower ground floor, where smoking will be permitted.

It is named after Colne’s most famous son, who was a solo violinst by the age of 15 and later became bandmaster aboard the Titanic in 1912. He famously instructed the band to continue playing as the ship sank, after hitting an iceberg and was swept to his death along with his entire band.

His body was recovered two weeks later in his bandmaster uniform, and returned to Colne where more than 40,000 people watched his funeral cortege. Photos and information boards relating to the history and characters of the area, including Wallace Hartley, will be displayed in the pub.

Pub manager Martin Nuttall said: “I am looking forward to welcoming customers into The Wallace Hartley.

“I am confident that people will be impressed with the transformation of the building and that the pub will be a good addition to Colne’s social scene.”