THE OWNER of Lancaster's Navigation wine bar made an emotional address to the full council on Wednesday in a bid to save "two major tourist attractions."

Clive Bennison, who owns the canal-side premises and runs canal trips on his barge, has been served with an eviction notice by Crowther Homes after they purchased the land from the council.

With 4,000 signatures on a petition calling for the Navigation to be retained, Mr Bennison says it will be impossible to relocate and could result in the loss of important tourists attractions if he is forced to close.

"We never get any trouble requiring police action, the Navigation is a quaint inner city oasis with the nicest beer garden in town," said Clive.

"As violence soars in the city by 40 per cent do we need any more aircraft hangar type venues? Do they want to see Oscar the Macaw made homeless? At the moment the council benefits to the tune of £15,000 in car parking charges from people using the attraction plus rent and rates. It's not the sort of attraction that can be closed down and restarted elsewhere."

The council have asked that Crowther Homes to allow the Navigation to continue but it is currently not including in their plans for the area.