IT is now almost 30 years since a school’s pioneering Basement Bar got the £40,000 it needed to create a popular venue serving soft drinks to Furness teenagers.

The non-alcoholic bar at Alfred Barrow School, Barrow, reached its cash target in September 1991 after cash came in from a variety of sources, including The Mail and a £15,000 pledge from Cumbria County Council.

Alfred Barrow School council and the Salthouse group of churches came up with the idea and it opened March 1993.

Its influence was such that the school’s headteacher Roger Titcombe was able to celebrate as the bar concept helped secure a healthy school award from the Northern Regional Health Authority - for discouraging smoking and the drinking of alcohol by youngsters.

In May 1993 the bar was opened to all the town’s 14 to 18-year-olds on Mondays to Thursdays between 7pm and 9.30pm.

The Mail, on May 20 in 1993, noted that It was run by a committee of pupils and staff who helped maintain the simple rules of no booze, no fags and no misbehaving.

The Basement Bar hit financial problems at the end of the year due to a freeze on spending by the county’s youth services but in June 1996 had a major boost when news was announced of a £20,000 National Lottery grant.

Mr Titcombe said: “We’ve had no trouble since we opened. One of the reasons is because the young people see it as theirs.”

March 1997 saw the Basement Bar pick up a top award for its valuable service to the community in providing a place where youngsters could meet and socialise in an alcohol-free environment.

Pupils Julie Horner and Gareth Wright accepted the High Sheriff of Cumbria Shield from the 1997 officer holder Henry Bowring.

Chief Inspector Steve Murray, of Barrow police, said: “This is a prestigious award and well deserved.

“Alfred Barrow School and the management committee have done well in providing these facilities.

“Decent kids need places to go and socialise. This is a good example.”