PUB grub and cafe food could soon be on the menu for pensioners receiving daily meals on wheels.

But one landlord today said that if payments from Blackburn with Darwen Council were similar to county council costs then he would only be able to deliver empty plates.

Blackburn with Darwen Council is urging local pubs to apply for contracts to deliver daily hot meals to old and house-bound people in the borough.

It is hoping to save around £30,000 from its annual meals on wheels budget by splitting it up into smaller contracts.

Meals are currently either cooked at council kitchens, such as those in care homes, and delivered to residents or bought frozen and heated up at the homes of old people by staff.

Blackburn with Darwen was unable to provide the exact cost of a meal, but Lancashire County council charges up to £3.20,.

Coun Maureen Bateson, executive member for social services at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "We would like to see many more local companies involved in meals on wheels.

"We want to provide the best possible quality of food within the budgets we have.

"I would like pubs and cafes in communities to consider tendering. With economies of scale, I'd hope they would be able to provide hearty meals within the budgets permitted.

"It would also help older people feel a part of the community."

Geoff Sutcliffe, landlord of the Rising Sun, Whalley New Road, Brownhill, and national president of the Federation of Licensed Victuallers' Associations, said: "I think all pubs which already provide a lunchtime menu should look at doing this. The industry as a whole is going to be hit very hard by the smoking ban when it comes into force next year."

But Steve Prince, licensee at the Grey Mare pub in Grane Road, said: "It would be impossible to do on the sorts of amounts which are paid." Alan Fish, manager of the Refreshment Bar in Northgate, Blackburn, said: "A lot depends on what they would expect. A lot of places, like ours, do snacks rather than meals."

The move by Blackburn with Darwen Council comes just weeks after neighbouring Lancashire County Council announced plans to scrap hot dinners in favour of weekly frozen deliveries.

That proposal was scrapped after a public outcry, with pensioners instead told they will have to pay more if they want to continue receiving hot meals.