THE founders of a long-running music club have decided to call time on the venture following the major fire which ripped through a Furness venue earlier this month.

Bill and Joyce Harrison, who have been involved in running the Barrow R&B Club since it was founded in 2001, have decided that the time is right to bring the programme to an end.

The fire which destroyed the former House of Lords pub, and parts of the adjoining Bar Continental venue in Abbey Road, had left the couple without a venue for the foreseeable future.

Mrs Harrison, 85, said: "It took a while for it to sink in, but when we had chance to think about it, we decided it was time to call it a day.

"It has always been a hobby for us, and we've always enjoyed it, but the setbacks eventually take their toll."

Mr Harrison, 86, and his wife, were two of eight original committee members who formed the Barrow R&B Club. In 2014, the pair received the Lifetime Achievement trophy at the British Blues Awards, recognising their tireless support of live music in Barrow.

Over the years, the not-for-profit club had resided at the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, The Travellers Rest, The Kings Arms, The Derby and The Labour Club, before finding a permanent home at Bar Continental around five years ago.

Mrs Harrison continued: "We're proud to have brought something like that to Barrow, because there was nothing like it around at the time.

"The way I feel right now is that we would have gone on as far as we could. We had gone from putting on weekly events to making them monthly, and it was working nicely, but we know the upheaval and all the hard work it takes when we move from place to place, so it felt like the right time to make a clean break."

The remaining bookings at the Barrow R&B Club in 2017 have now been cancelled.