THE Citizen has finally called "time" on its Name A Pub competition and can now exclusively reveal that the new JD Wetherspoons pub in Wood Street, St Annes, will be called The Trawlboat Inn.

Mrs Sheila Parker, a teacher from St Annes, won the competition with her entry which takes its name from one of the earliest pubs in the area. It is now a private house in Smithy Road, St Annes.

Sheila will have the honour of dining at the pub on its opening night in April, where she will be presented with a certificate and a bottle of wine.

She gave The Citizen a potted history of the original pub and said it was one of the liveliest places in the area now known as Ansdell.

She said the pub was originally opened on September 19, 1826: "It was a very lively place and the landlord was a Mr Thomas Greaves, who is actually an ancestor on my mother's side of the family.

"Originally named The Trawl Boat, it was closed down in the 1880s because a fight broke out on the steps while Lady Drummond, the sister-in-law of Lady Eleanor Clifton, was passing in her carriage."

Sheila said Lady Eleanor campaigned to have the pub closed down after this because she also felt some men were being tempted while on their way to St Cuthbert's Church in Lytham: "I was horrified by an early suggestion that the pub could be called The Lady Eleanor because, as you can imagine, she was no fan of pubs at all."

The Fylde coast is proving an increasingly popular target for Wetherspoons, as the company recently announced plans to open two new outlets, one in Market Street, Blackpool and another in London Street, Fleetwood.

A spokesman for the company said: "We have secured the premises for the new outlets and are waiting to finalise the finer details. Business is going really well at the moment and we are looking forward to opening the new pubs."

Pictured is Sheila Parker as she sees work progressing on the pub she named.