THE TAPS Bar in Darwen is making a return for takeaway deliveries this evening after being closed for eight months.

The pub, which is on Railway Road, closed for the first national lockdown in March and due to its small size making social distancing difficult, has not yet re-opened the doors.

Manager Lloyd Lawson, 25, said: "It's been good. It's had quite a lot of attention when we have been posting it on social media.

"It's mostly because the demand is there and a lot of people are crying out for us to be open.

"A lot of people are quite excited for it and its creating a stir on social media."

The Taps is part of a Darwen pub family which also includes the Spitfire Sports Bar, the Vault and newly added venue the Bank.

Lloyd added: "We are ecstatic for it really. We are excited to get in there and get it all set up and have all of our customers back because we miss them.

"We don't see them very much any more. We do see them down at the other bars but they're always saying how much they miss Taps.

"It's like a big family, we can't wait to get people back together in there."

The pub serves home cooked pub food, including steaks, pies and pastas and are excited to be able to re-open the doors to sitting customers at the end of the national lockdown.

"We are just going to go for it," Lloyd added. "At first we were a bit worried about not having enough space for people but we have a marquee outside the back now so we should be able to get more people in so we are just going to see how it goes."

The takeaway service will run Thursday to Sunday from 4pm until 10pm.