HUNDREDS of youngsters are set to be helped with a new £1.5million plan to revamp an Accrington town centre building as a specialist training centre.

The building is the former Old Moseley’s Bakery in Grange Lane, which until recently was the Elite Snooker Club.

The plan will see North Lancs Training Group able to offer more than 250 places a year for young people to train in catering, logistics, computer skills and hairdressing as refurbishment of the building gets under way.

Currently the group’s other bases in town only offer facilities for up to 120.

Additional training rooms mean the group will also be able to cater for more groups of catering and hairdressing students from schools and colleges to use the facilities.

The old bakery, which was known in its heyday for selling ‘Moseley’s bread’ or squashed penny cakes, will be given a careful restoration including bricked up windows being replaced to mimic the building’s originals.

The group’s managing director Jim Harkness said the project would restore the building and succeed in getting Hyndburn youngsters between the ages of 14 and 19 off the streets.

He said: “It offers a much-needed facility for young people who could otherwise be without a job, training course or apprenticeship.

“We have seen demand for training increase.

“By meeting that need, it should increase the likelihood of youngsters either getting employment or going on a course at college which will develop them into employable people.”

The revamp is well underway, and the group says it is on target to open in November.

The group, which this year celebrated its fourth annual National Apprenticeship Award, hopes to beat last year which saw them gain a ‘positive result’ for 75 per cent of their users who went on to college, work or apprenticeship.

Work on the building is said to have already restored the original frontage to reveal the old ‘Moseley’s Bakery’ sign.

Mr Harkness said: “It is a nostalgic building for many people and we plan to call it something respectful, like The Bakery for example.”