LEIGH'S newest pub opens on Monday following a £1.8 million development project.

JD Wetherspoon has spent the past seven months transforming the former Hippodrome Theatre and Classic Cinema into the child-friendly The Thomas Burke in Leigh Road.

Forty five new full and part-time jobs have been created at the pub, which will be managed by Leanne Richards.

The name refers to the famous son of Leigh, tenor Tom Burke, the Lancashire Caruso' who performed at the theatre in 1918.

The pub is completely non-smoking throughout, but customers will be free to smoke in the beer garden. It is wheelchair accessible and has a specially-adapted toilet.

Opening hours will be from 9am to midnight (Sunday to Thursday) and to 1am (Friday and Saturday).

Children, accompanied by an adult, will be welcome until 9pm throughout the week, with last orders for food at 8pm. As a condition of the licence both the adult and child must order a meal.

Leanne said: "I am looking forward to welcoming customers. I am confident that they will be impressed with the transformation of the building and that the pub will be a good addition to Leigh's social scene."