TWO businessmen have taken over a Darwen entertainment venue with ambitions to bring big acts to town.

Mark Hilton and Michael Ian Court have signalled their intent by booking comic Bernard Manning to appear at Marigolds on The Green on September 13. The Grumbleweeds are also booked for August 23.

And their message to the people of Darwen is "use it or lose it."

Hundreds of thousands of pounds have been spent transforming Marigolds from a private party venue. A stage has been constructed plus a 200-capacity seating area.

Mark, from Leyland, and Michael, from Darwen, took on the lease eight weeks ago and believe there is demand for live entertainment in Darwen.

Initially there will be one act each month, but there are plans later this year to have one every two weeks if support is there. They said the last regular live entertainment in Darwen was in the 1970s with long-since-closed venues like Uncle Tom's in School Street and Bogart's in Cranberry Lane.

Michael said: "The busiest people in Darwen are the taxi drivers taking people out to Blackburn. We are trying to get big acts back to Darwen. We are trying to wake people up to live acts."

He said he was in negotiations to bring a number of acts to the town in the coming months including the Freddy Mercury Band and the main Carpenters tribute act. All we can do is tell people what we are doing and ask them to support us."

Tickets for the Grumbleweeds cost £10, while those for Bernard Manning are £12. To book, call 01254 705040. Both events start at 8pm.