Calls for Lever Arms Pub to be demolished - as new apartment plans drawn up

Cllr Sean Hornby is urging council officers to issue a demolition order on the Lever Arms in Darcy Lever claiming that if action is not taken then someone could be seriously injured.

Former pub set to be transformed

The former public house in Top O' Th' Lane, off Radcliffe Road, has been empty since 2020 and it is understood plans for the site will be submitted to Bolton Council in the near future.

But Cllr Hornby is calling for the council to take action now before someone is hurt, or it is set on fire as has been the case in the past in other long-standing empty buildings in Bolton.

A planning application for the site is expected to be submitted soon, according to the ward councillor.

Cllr Hornby said: "It needs knocking down because it has got to a state where it is unrepairable.

"An application is due to be submitted but that can take months to decide."

A planning application to develop apartments on the site of the pub, which has been closed for three years, was withdrawn after applicants consulted with Bolton's planning officers.

Now a new application to build apartments on the site is due to be submitted, The Bolton News understands.

And it is understood that a cafe is proposed for the community given the role the pub used to play within the area.

Cllr Hornby visited the site recently after it had again been broken into and is calling for the building to be bulldozed while plans are being drawn up and submitted on safety grounds.

He told The Bolton News: "The new application is designed to address the issues in the first planning application.

"The building is unsafe, it is unsightly and has being boarded up again for the seventh or eighth time.

"I have sent an email to to the director responsible for planning and building control and suggested we need to make a visit to the site with a view to issuing a demolition order.

"It is dangerous and something needs to be done before someone is seriously hurt. It is an area where youths congregate, there are empty vodka bottles nearby.

"Empty buildings are often set on fire and this building has been set alight before.

"It is painful for me as a landlord as I want to preserve as many pubs as we possibly can but this one is beyond saving. It has to come down, this is sad because there will only be one pub left in Darcy Lever."