WORK to extend a Leigh pub’s beer garden has been halted after Wigan council told its owners they needed planning permission.

A ‘retrospective’ application has now been submitted for the scheme at the Brewery Inn on the corner of Brewery Lane and College Street. Retrospective applications are usually needed when the applicant may have unintentionally overlooked the need to get approval from a local authority.

Drawings show a boundary fence fronting onto the two streets – which has already been erected – surrounding grassed area partitioning a car park at the rear. The pub is owned by Inglenoon Inns and Taverns Ltd, and the tenant/manager is Colin Fryer.

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The area where the pub bosses want to create an extended beer garden at the Brewery InnThe area where the pub bosses want to create an extended beer garden at the Brewery Inn (Image: Wigan Council)
Mr Fryer said: “We’ve left it to our head office. A fence was put up about 12 months ago and then we got a letter from Wigan Council saying the work had to stop. 

“We thought we would have to take the fence down, but it’s been left so that if the application is approved the work can restart.”

The pub is popular sports fans who watch Super League rugby league and football matches on TV.

A spokesperson for Inglenook Inns and Taverns told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “When we have more information [about the planning application] we’ll let you know.”