A COFFEE shop owner has warned a rival threatened with closure after opening without planning consent: "You're not making any friends."

Jacqueline Hartley-Barnes claimed Ian Finch, of Puccino's, King William Street, Blackburn, should have to suffer the consequences.

She said she struggled to open Hartley's Coffee Shop in Northgate, three years ago, but succeeded after passing through council red tape. Now Puccino's must do the same, she said.

Mr Finch said he opened after staff at the head office of Puccino's told him the majority of councillors would allow the business to continue.

He added that, while he understood why people said he had sneaked in, they were "totally wrong."

Initially, Puccino's was threatened with closure by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council after councillors said all new developments on King William Street must be retail only.

But Mr Finch was this week thrown a lifeline after announcing he had collection a petition with 1,500 names in support of him. Council bosses told him to re-submit the planning application, to the anger of Jacqueline Hartley-Barnes. She said: "I am not the only one who has taken umbrage. I don't want him to close down, but I think the way he has gone about it has been wrong.

"We all have to go through the system. He is the newcomer in town and won't make friends with what he is doing."

Mr Finch said: "The idea that we have sneaked in through the back door is totally wrong. I haven't blatantly disregarded the rules.

"I can understand other businesses thinking we have sneaked in and I can sympathise, but as far as Puccino's are concerned all of the applications were correct for what we were doing.

"I hope it is all resolved in due time, but I am concerned it is making us look bad in the meantime."