CHURCH leaders today appealed for landlords to ban topless barmaids after a pub began using half-naked women to pull in the punters.

The women, who serve pints in little more than a G-string, are helping the licensees and owners William and Michelle Thorpe after takings were hit by road works.

The barmaids at the Little White Horse in Hammerton Street, Burnley, appear twice a week on Friday and Saturday nights.

The pub is one of only a handful in East Lancashire to use the gimmick, even though it is more common in cities elsewhere in the country.

But a spokesman for the Church of England's Blackburn Diocese, which covers the Burnley area, said: "Well run pubs do not rely on sexist gimmicks like this to make them a success. Christians believe that women and men were created by God to live and work together with respect and cooperation.

"Anything that dilutes that respect and encourages exploitation damages both the individuals involved and the community of which they are a part."

Today Michelle defended her decision to use half naked women as a way of drumming up extra business.

She said: "The road was blocked off for a long time this year, while they carried out repairs.

"There was no access, so we had to think of a way to get people in. Since then it has gone down well."

She also said that although some of her female customers don't like it - it's not going to stop.

"Some women are offended, but there are banners outside saying what's on - they know what to expect inside.

"The girls say it is something they choose to do and when people approach me and say that I am exploiting them I tell them they are being paid good money for it.

"We have had interest from women who come in here saying they would want to do it."

Michelle and her husband William are also planning to expand into a new bar above the pub and they are looking to recruit more girls.

And to even things up a little a topless barman will be employed in the new bar.

Father Denis Dwyer, a Rural Dean and Parish Priest of St Philip's RC Church, Slade Lane, Padiham, said: "It is not something that should be encouraged and it is certainly not helping standards of human decency."

One of the women who can be seen regularly at the pub is a 26-year-old business woman from Bacup.

Helen Almond owns and runs a shoe shop in Stockport and has been a topless barmaid since being spotted by an agent.

She said: "My best friend was a lap dancer and through that I was approached by an agent. I enjoy it's fun and we have a laugh.

Michelle has only ever been criticised once - by another woman. "Most women say 'good on yer' or something like that.

"Most don't have a problem", she added.

It may be the first time that barmaids in Burnley have bared all, but it is not the first time in East Lancashire.

At the Duke of Wellington in Abbey Street, Accrington, topless barmaids were a regular feature on a Saturday night for almost two years before the pub changed hands.

The Commercial pub in Haslingden also features topless barmaids. Margo Grimshaw, a nightclub owner from Blackburn, is known as Lancashire's first topless barmaid, but maintains the story is not true.

She said: "It was just a publicity stunt that worked very well. People still say to me they remember seeing me topless behind a bar, but I assure them they didn't."