THE Labour Party is to sell its headquarters in a district where it only has one councillor.

A "for sale" sign will replace the "red flag" after 60 years of political activity at Eshton Terrace, Clitheroe.

Spiralling costs mean the area's 200 or so Labour Party activists can no longer keep the office open.

And one member who will be particularly sad is Ribble Valley Council's lone Labour councillor Bert Jones.

Coun Jones, 78, holds the balance of power on the hung council and he remembers going into the Eshton Terrace HQ as a young child.

Coun Jones said: "The office opened just after the war. There were a lot of mills in those days and it always seemed to be a hive of activity.

"I remember going in aged about five. I came out humming the Red Flag and haven't looked back since!"

Ribble Valley is traditionally a Tory stronghold, boasting a former Home Secretary - Lord Waddington - among its MPs.

But it hasn't always been so, Coun Jones recalled, for he was a member of the canvassing team that helped to bring the area's only Labour MP - Harry Randall - to power in the aftermath of the Second World War. "The then Clitheroe Borough Council was also Labour-controlled. There was certainly a lot going on at the HQ. Now the building is only used for monthly meetings and at election times.

"You have to weigh up the expense of keeping a place going against the use it gets. It's sad to lose it, but all good things come to an end," he said.

Rita Richards, secretary of Clitheroe Labour Party, said the cost of keeping the HQ open had proved prohibitive.

The mid-terrace property had "very reluctantly" been put on the market with an asking price of £45,000.

She said she had received several letters from elderly residents and former party members expressing their regret.

One local old lady had even included a small donation to try and keep it open, she said.

"We will be very sad to see the building close and I would like to thank everyone for their messages of support. It might be the end of an era, but the local Labour Party is certainly here to stay," she added.

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