lep.co.uk: A pub that became the flashpoint for racial violence more than a decade ago could be re-opened as an Islamic education centre.
Preston City Council has received a planning application to turn the New Deepdale Hotel into an evening school for Muslim teenagers.
Al-Ansaar Welfare and Education, which already runs a Madrasa – an educational establishment – for four to 16-year-olds a mile away in Garstang Road, has applied to convert the pub into classrooms for 14 to 20-year-olds.
In April 2002 the Deepdale Hotel was claimed to be the seat of trouble which flared between gangs of white and Asian youths following a football match at Preston North End.
Running battles went on for five hours, starting outside the pub and spilling over into the city centre, before police managed to restore order. Nine men were arrested after what was described at the time as some of the worst violence seen in the city for years.
Categories: Europe