A FORMER nightclub in Bacup could be bulldozed to make way for a new supermarket.

Rossendale Council has received an application to replace the old Horace's nightclub, off Lee Street, with a retail store with car park.

It is not known who the owner will be, but it is rumoured to be Sainsbury's or Morrisons.

Bacup councillors have cautiously welcomed the plans which they said would regenerate a run-down area of the town.

Coun Bill Challinor, deputy council leader, said the the new store would give people more choice where to shop.

He said: "I think it could be good news for Bacup. It would give more competition but I am not sure everybody would be happy about it.

"It would get rid of an eyesore and give more car parking. I think it would be good to have another supermarket in Bacup."

Coun Jimmy Eaton, a member of the authority's development control committee, said he would not make a decision on the application until he had heard all sides.

He added: "It would be good for competition but you also have to be careful about what they are going to sell.

"Even though you would get a supermarket it could end up finishing some small shops."

The nightclub closed in 1997 and site has stood empty since. Travellers have often stopped on the land.

In 2002 Lancashire Police announced plans to build a new police station on the land. Outline planning permission was granted but the scheme was scrapped in August 2004 when it was announced the land had been sold to a private owner.

If the latest application is approved, the site would become the fourth supermarket to open in Rossendale in the last two years following the opening of the new Asda in Rawtenstall and the two Tesco stores in Rawtenstall and Haslingden.

As part of the scheme the building near to the health centre would be converted into offices.

A spokesman for Sainsbury's would not say whether the chain was looking to open in Bacup.

Nobody at Morrisons was available for comment.