A PROMINENT town centre pub, labelled in the past as a drugs den, has been sold after being boarded up for eight months.

The Swan Hotel, in Astley Gate, Blackburn, has been sold by its owners, Birmingham-based Enterprise Inns.

Anxious nearby pub traders have said they want the Swan Hotel to become a thriving business to help their area of nmtown -- but, as yet, there has been no confirmation of what it will become. The Swan, which has been shut since August last year, has had an eventful recent history. In 1996, it was raided by police who arrested 14 people when heroin, amphetamine and cannabis were found.

And in July 2001, Lottery millionaire Kath Brindle bought the pub and ploughed in more than £40,000 to turn it around. But Ms Brindle, of Mosley Street, Blackburn, who won £2.25million in 1995, left the pub last year and was last heard to be living on £50 a week after losing her fortune in just seven years.

The Swan is one of Blackburn's longest established hostelries.

Laura Price, head barmaid at The Sun, which is next door to the Swan, said: "It doesn't look nice at the moment. We would like a new business to come in as soon as possible as long as it is a change from what it was before. We have heard rumours it may become a restaurant, but no-one seems to know."

Karen Riley, landlady of nearby Sam's bar, said: "We heard it may be a curry house."

Geoff Sutcliffe, secretary of Blackburn and District Licensed Victuallers' Association, said: "What it's been sold for I have no idea. I imagine it will be opened up as a bar of some sort as it is in a prominent position in the town."

Enterprise Inns confirmed the premises had been sold, but refused to comment further.