THE former owners of a Ribble Valley hostelry owed more than £9,500 to the borough council in unpaid rates when it went bust.

But the debt was not the only unpaid bill left by Hail Fellows Pub Company Ltd, which used to run the Bayley Arms in Hurst Green.

The outfit, run by Mark King and Martin Bulman, both originally from Chester, owed more than £115,000 to creditors when Hail Fellows was liquidated.

Last Christmas the village pub hit the headlines when homophobic insults were sprayed outside the premises.

The attack was condemned by local councillors in Hurst Green - which had then been named the most improved medium-sized village in the Lancashire Best Kept Village competition.

Customers were also reported to be worried that bookings for festive meals would be honoured - though then-owners Punch Taverns insisted all bookings would be met.

More than £52,000 was owed by Hail Fellows to HM Revenue and Customs, through a combination of unpaid VAT and pay-as-you-earn and National Insurance contributions.

Another £10,000 debt had been racked up with Punch Taverns and the directors even owed £918 to Booking.com and £500 to Anderton's Butchers in Hothersall.

Councillors have now agreed to write off the debts as part of their regular round of housekeeping.

Another £6,200 is said to have remained unpaid, in non-domestic rates and council tax, by Signor Sassi Restaurant Ltd, for the No. 1 Restaurant and Bar, in Brockhall Village and an associated office. The company was dissolved in

Mark Edmondson, Ribble Valley Council's resources director, said in a finance committee report: "There is now one case where a company has been liquidated and one case where the company has been liquidated and therefore we need to write off these debts."

The costs of business rate-offs are split between central government and the local authority.

Punch Taverns has confirmed that the Bayley Arms is now run by Star Inns, the pubs arms of the brewing giant Henieken.