A MIDLANDS-based brewery has submitted plans for a new pub and restaurant on the site of the former Boars Head in Bolton town centre.

The popular Boars Head in Churchgate was closed eight years ago along with the Gatehouse Cafe and the Chip Inn because the 200-year-old buildings were declared unsafe.

Former brewing giant Greenall Whitley was given planning permission to demolish the buildings to make way for offices amid protests from local conservation groups.

The Town's Civic Trust campaigned for the facade to be preserved, along the lines of the Bolton Evening News' former Mealhouse Lane building, and incorporated in any new development. But after examining the structure and seeing for themselves the precarious state of the buildings, the demands were dropped.

Surveys discovered the pub and adjoining buildings were slowly sinking back towards the River Croal.

The upper floors had been supported by bolts and beams for years but the buildings were hastily closed when they were considered unsafe for the public to enter.

But now Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries have made a bid to buy the site and have submitted a plan to Bolton Council to build a new pub and restaurant with terrace and garden seating.

There will also be residential accommodation for a manager and assistant manager and room for a garage, staff parking and landscaping.

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