Last updated at 15:12, Tuesday, 19 June 2012

A FORMER landlady says she is devastated by the decline of Dalton’s pub scene.

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The Wellington in Market Street became the latest pub to shut after the most recent tenants packed up and left unexpectedly.

Now former Wellington landlady Trish Hampson, who took over the pub with her family in 2009 and was also previously landlady at The White Horse for 11 years, said Dalton’s pubs need ‘bringing back to life’.

Mrs Hampson said the ‘Welly’ was central to the pub scene.

She continued: “It needs somebody local to come and turn it back around like we did.

“The pubs need bringing back to life or they’re going to die a death.

“When the Welly shuts, Dalton dies. It’s sad. There used to be about 24 pubs in Dalton, now there’s less than 12.”

Natalie Hodgson from Dalton agrees.

Miss Hodgson, 21, used to be in The Wellington most weekends.

“It was the best pub in Dalton,” she said. “They seem to be closing one by one, it’s like a ghost town on a Saturday night now.

“Super Sundays were the best in Dalton, but the first one this year at The Welly there were more staff there than customers, so we went to Barrow. I think that’s what most people do now.”

The Cavendish is another Dalton pub to have closed, calling time in 2009, and is still empty.

The Railway closed after having its opening hours cut. It is being demolished.

However, there are pubs in the town that are successfully trading and bucking the closure trend.

Landlord Dru Royle at the Red Lion, in Dalton, has just overseen a major revamp of the business and says trade is good.

Mr Royle said: “The wet sales on the bar side are absolutely brilliant.

“I’m trying to get the restaurant going, it’s just about trying to get people in the door and letting people know we’re serious about the restaurant side of it as well.

“When the Welly was under Mark Faragher and his mother-in-law Trish, they were doing well and invested time and money into the place.”

First published at 13:44, Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk