A NEW cocktail bar and English tea room is to be unveiled in Darwen next month.

The old Britannia Inn, on Bolton Road, is being transformed into Mello Cafe Bar and this week the owners published teasing images of its interior online.

Vass Vassiliou, who already owns Mangiamo Italian restaurant next door, bought the pub two years ago and was given planning permission to give the building a swish revamp.

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He said the tables are arriving this week and it should be open in the “next three to four weeks”.

He said: “ I am opening it as a cafe bar doing home-made cakes, afternoon teas, sharing platters and loose-leaf teas .

“And from Thursdays until Sundays it will open in the evenings as a cocktail bar .”

The Britannia Inn was put up for sale in 2011, when the brewing giant Thwaites decided it was no longer financially viable.

It was popular with locals who appreciated its character, with tiles and pictures on the walls of days gone by in Darwen.

Now it will have fluorescent-lit walls and chandeliers, and the look is already a hit with the town’s trendsetters.

Taking to Facebook Sarah Claudia Crompton posted: “Hope it’s open by Friday, June 12, for our girls’ night out.”

While Sandra Worden posted: “It’s about time something classy (opened) in Darwen.”

Cllr Paul Browne says he hopes the bar does well.

He said: “It’s brilliant. It can only be good for the economy of Darwen.

“ It will help keep people socialising in Darwen .”

Darwen had a cocktail lounge until earlier this year when Indian restaurant owner Resh Gohel shut his bar to follow his dream of being a professional magician.

Resh took over his dad’s restaurant, Sukhi’s, in Blackburn Road, Darwen, in 2012, renaming it after himself and launching ‘Man vs Food’ challenges.