A DARWEN pub could be converted into bedsits, it has emerged.

Developers want to convert the Borough Hotel, on Grimshaw Street, into 15 flats.

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The building, which has a small courtyard to the rear and a car park, was marketed for £265,000.

A planning application was lodged with Blackburn with Darwen Council last week.

A decision will be made by the authorities but workmen have already started to clear the contents of the former pub.

Blackburn with Darwen councillor John Roberts, who represents Marsh House ward, said: “Residents have been ringing because there’s building work going on.

“Until we look at the application and see the detail there’s not a lot we can say really.

“I believe the people who are investing in this one have been involved in similar projects.

“The interesting thing is that the type of tenants they are looking for are working people.”

No details of the scheme to turn the former pub into a House in Multiple Occupation are currently available on the Blackburn with Darwen council planning website.

Since 2009 several pubs have been sold by Thwaites, including the Mill Gap and the Britannia on Bolton Road.

The brewery has cited a lack of commercial viability for their disposal.

The Mill Gap is now 10 bedsits, with rents of less than £100 a week covering bills, wifi, use of a shared kitchen, dining area and living room.

The rooms are all single with a shower and a cleaner comes once a week to do the communal areas.

There was anger when Thwaites put eight pubs across East Lancashire for sale in 2009.

The Campaign for Real Ale accused the Blackburn-based firm of imposing strict rules on would-be buyers which meant the sites could no longer be run as pubs. Other pubs put up for sale included The Adelphi in Accrington; The Plane Tree, the Sportsman’s Arms, and the Gibraltar in Blackburn; Colne’s Commercial Hotel; The George in Darwen; and Padiham’s Victoria Hotel.

The House of Commons Business and Enterprise Select Committee has criticised pub chains for selling on premises with restrictive covenants.

But the Licensed Victuallers’ Association defended the restriction, arguing it would strengthen the demand for surviving alehouses.

The UK has lost 21,000 pubs since 1980. Half of these closures have taken place since 2006.

Taxation, regulation and the recent decline in disposable incomes are said to be leading causes of the decimation of the pub industry’s problems.