PUB giants First Leisure will try to break the deadlock over a £5.5m bar development in the heart of Bolton.

This week they will ask Bolton licensing justices for permission to open a late night music bar in Nelson Square.

The company are one of three hoping to move into a derelict row of shops opposite the Pack Horse as part of a multi-million pound development. Earlier this month the court turned down an application for a liquor licence from J D Whetherspoon after Bolton police said they were opposed to any more pubs opening in the Bradshawgate area.

The company has already lodged an appeal against the decision.

Regent Inns is the third company which wants to open a bar in Nelson Square.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.