A COUNCILLOR has called on a brewery to tidy up the outside of a boarded-up pub which she claims is a ‘blight’ on Barnoldswick.

The Barlick Hotel, in Church Street, recently closed down and is now looking for new tenants.

In the meantime the pub, formerly known as The Commercial, has been boarded up with metal shutters by bosses at brewery Punch Taverns.

But town and borough councillor Jenny Purcell said the outside of the building looked a mess and labelled it a ‘disgrace’.

Bosses said they had taken the measures for security reasons.

But Coun Purcell said: “They have lowered the tone of this town. The town council is trying to promote the town and make it look nice but then this happens. It’s an absolute disgrace.

“A lot of the shops have been done up and now look really nice, but then these come along and it is a blight on the town.

“It looks like it has been completely disregarded and could end up encouraging vandalism.

“People in Barnoldswick are not prepared to put up with this mess.”

Coun Purcell said she had contacted Pendle Council’s enforcement team to try to make the owners of the building tidy it up.

She said: “It can’t stay like this. Something has to be done and I think they need to tidy it up urgently. “ A spokesperson for Punch Taverns said: “Our priority is to reopen the Barlick Hotel as soon as possible.

“We have worked quickly to recruit a temporary operator from mid-June who will trade the site while we look for a longer-term licensee.

“For security reasons we have installed shutters to protect the site while it is closed.”