The council have revealed who paid for the demolition of a former pub in Kendal after it was knocked down on Tuesday night.

Westmorland and Furness Council served a dangerous structure notice on properties 133 to 139 on Stricklandgate, which was previously the Sawyers Arms.

An emergency road closure was in place between 7:30pm on Tuesday and 3am on Wednesday, which included a short suspension to the one way system on Stricklandgate, Highgate and Kirkland.

Read more: Building on Stricklandgate, Kendal, demolished | The Westmorland Gazette

A council spokesperson said: "The owner arranged for the structure to be demolished to first floor height to remove the immediate risk - this was arranged and paid for by the receivers responsible for the building.

"The council has now asked for a meeting with the receivers to ensure there is a clear plan of action to address the site's significant detrimental impact on that part of Kendal."

The site was previously under the control of OHC Property Group, who gained planning permission in 2021 to transform the pub into a block of 15 luxury apartments.

In May last year, the council requested that a structural assessment be carried out to establish the condition of the building and that necessary remedial works be carried out.

Receivers, instead of OHC, had control of the building by this time and they arranged the assessment and necessary propping works.

On February 1 this year, the receivers were advised the building had further deteriorated and an urgent assessment was needed.

Confirmation was given by the receivers' engineer on Monday that immediate action was needed to remove the walls to first floor level, which resulted in the serving of the dangerous structure notice.

The spokesperson added: "The structures have been subject to a monitoring regime by Building Control for some time but deteriorated to the point where they were considered to present an immediate safety risk and danger to the public and the council took immediate action. 

"It was therefore not possible to give more advanced notice of this road closure and work and we thank everybody affected for their patience and understanding."