A historic Radcliffe pub building could become a 13-bedroom house of multiple occupation (HMO).

Plans have been lodged with the council for conversion of the ground floor of the former Old Tower Inn on Sandford Street into bedrooms.

The pub, then called the Owd Tower Inn has historic significance in the town as the birthplace of Radcliffe Borough FC.

The club was formed on May 24, 1949 at a meeting at the pub by Jack Pickford and a committee of 17 and became a member of the South East Lancashire Football League.

The plans, submitted by Westhoughton based AAZ Estates, request a change of use from its current public house and eight self-contained flats to 13 bed, maximum 20 person, house of multiple occupation.

If approved the proposals would also mean the demolition of the existing conservatory, the creation of a parking space and a cycle store and an entrance and exit at the rear.

A design and access statement in support of the plans said: “At present the building is vacant with the ground floor public house not being a suitable condition to operate.

“The site has been subject to ongoing threats of vandalism and anti-social behaviour due to its vacancy on what is otherwise a low density area.

"The intent is to covert the property into a large HMO to ensure that the occupancy enables improved natural surveillance of the area.

“It is intended to have single occupants where possible to allow residents to have an affordable means of living where there is currently a shortage of small, low cost units.

"There are some larger bedrooms which have capacity for a double bed and two person occupancy.

“This is factored into with the sizes of the communal areas for kitchen, dining and lounge areas so ensure that if all the larger bedrooms were to be double occupancy that the overall capacity of 20 people is maintained for communal areas.

“The quality of the accommodation is higher than the minimum requirements for HMOs with sizes of rooms generally being larger in size than the guidelines and with many of them having their own ensuites.

“It is a development focused on improving a building that is currently present rather than seeking to spread new build development and also meets the needs for varied accommodation types that are affordable.”

Council planners will now consider the application.