THE latest town centre pub and club venue was today hailed as the "final piece of the jigsaw" for Burnley's rejuvenated Hammerton Street after it was revealed it attracted more than 2,000 people on one night.

And town centre manager Lisa Durkin toasted the Walkabout bar and Surfer's Paradise club and said she had worked for four years to lease the building to a leisure group.

Lisa said she was delighted plans to attract people to that part of Burnley had been so successful.

She added: "The opening of the Walkabout and Surfer's Paradise is the last piece in the jigsaw at that end of the town. It could be argued that there are too many pubs and clubs but I believe they offer a diversity to the town centre not just at night but during the day as well.

"The Walkabout has a very mixed theme about it and is not just for the 16 to 25 age group. They've certainly not scrimped and saved on it.

"I have been working with the owner of that building for nearly four years to try and let it to a leisure tenant. It was originally earmarked for JD Wetherspoons but it's probably worked out better in the long run for Wetherspoons to be in Manchester Road in the middle of the circuit and Walkabout to be towards the end with its club."

Walkabout, part of a national chain of 36 Australian theme bars which also has outlets in Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester, created more than 50 jobs when it opened last week.

Owners Regent Inns also put hundreds of thousands of pounds into the premises when it bought the dilapidated building earlier this year.

Manager Troy Hinds said: "We are having no problem at all getting people in to the bar. We are doing a roaring food and drinks trade and it is all going extremely well. We're over the moon with the success of the first week and are hoping that -- in true Australian boomerang style -- people will be back for more!"

The bar's authentic feel comes partly from the traditional Australian decor with real outback artefacts but also through the menu which includes crocodile and kangaroo fillets, wild boar and Kiwi lamb burgers.

To give the bar even more of an authentic feel, almost all the staff hail from Australia, with some from New Zealand and South Africa.

Regent Inns bought the empty buildings in Hammerton Street as the area continued to be transformed by a number of pubs into a hotspot for night life.

The area already contains the town's main nightspot, the combined Works nightclub and Chicago Rock bar, as well as the Orangehouse pub and the recently opened ISO Bar.

In the evening Walkabout turns in to a trendy bar on the ground floor and a nightclub on the first floor.