Last updated at 07:54, Friday, 10 July 2009

A WORKINGTON pub has closed without warning.

The Curwen Arms, Bridge Street, is one of the main pubs revellers visit along the town’s drinking circuit on a weekend.

A sign was put in the window informing customers of the closure.

It is believed landlord Kevin Norman, 25, who leased the business from Scottish and Newcastle brewery, handed the keys back late last week.

Mr Norman, who has also ran the Travellers Rest and Hogs and Heffers nightclub, was the first landlord in the town to ban smoking inside a pub when a poll of his Curwen Arms customers voted in favour of the move months before the law changed.

He took over the running of the pub in 2005.

No-one from the brewery was available for comment and the future of the pub is not known.

The Travellers Rest, which is also owned by Scottish and Newcastle, was put under temporary management after Mr Norman left late last year and the brewery is still advertising for a permanent landlord.

Mr Norman closed Jane Street club Hogs and Heffers and Harveys cafe bar next door last month, stating that strict licensing rules and regulation by police had made his business unviable.

He said then that he might be forced into bankruptcy.

First published at 19:28, Thursday, 09 July 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk