A POPULAR boating club has been forced to close amid government cuts to local services.

Blyth's Boats in Barrow Park, which provided rowing boats, pedal boats and zorbing balls on the water, was set to re-open for the Easter holidays.

But due to cutbacks, Barrow Borough Council can no longer afford to pay the £500 monthly subsidy it used to provide.

Owner Crawford Blyth said:"It's a shame. The school kids loved the zorbing. It was a good outdoor activity for them. Now they will just be staying inside on their iPads. For the sake of £500 a month it's a travesty."

The boat club at Barrow Park has been a much-loved fixture for many years.

Mr Blyth said: "In the 50s, 60s and 70s people would row round the park after going to church on a Sunday in their suits and ties. Of course then it was just pedal boats."

Following its heyday, the boat shed was used for different venture, including car refurbishments.

However, in 1995 Keith Newby, one of Mr Blyth's ex-colleagues from Barrow police, took over the running of the boat park, naming it Barrow Leisure Boating Services.

Mr Blyth, who bought the business after he retired in 2008, said: "It was in a terrible state. He went and got all the boats and started it from scratch."

He added: "I feel terrible about it, especially when I did originally think it was going to keep going."

The boating club will be a loss for children with families, especially in the run up to the Easter holidays.

A concerned resident said: "This is a place where people come and take their kids at the weekend. We've had lots of trouble with vandals wrecking the bandstand but this is something positive. I just think it's horrendous."

"When I was kid I remember going on the park boats. In the summer it's full of parents on the boats with their children."

Mr Blyth, who is originally from Glasgow, said he provided the boats and insurance while the council paid to run the service.

Since he has now started a new job at the Blind Society in Barrow, he had arranged for another ex-colleague from the police force, Peter Cargan, to take it over.

But the council issued Mr Blyth with a closure notice on February 5.

Labour councillor John Murphy said: "We can't really afford to use public funds to support private enterprises.

"Unfortunately for Crawford and for the people of Barrow this is just one of those cut backs, but nobody takes pleasure in that."