A PUB in a Cheshire village is temporarily closed after police discovered it has been serving alcohol to young people.

It comes after officers from Warrington Police’s licensing department have been carrying out a number of test purchase operations at licenced premises across the town.

The aim of the operation, which also involved the beat management team, is to keep the town’s young people safe.

A number of venues failed test purchases, including the London Bridge Inn in Appleton, meaning that they served the force’s young volunteers alcohol without asking them to provide any proof of age.

The volunteers used in the operation were aged between 14 and 16 years old.

Following the failure of a test purchase, the staff member that made the sale and the manager of the pub are invited into the police station with licensing officers and Warrington Borough Council to carry out further training around age verification.

On November 17 last year, London Bridge Inn failed a test purchase, so on February 1, a staff member and a manager attended the police station and completed training.

But on February 8, the pub, on London Road, failed the test purchase again, Warrington Police revealed on its Facebook page.

As a result, the premises has agreed to temporarily close this week to allow for further training to take place.

Warrington Police’s Facebook post reads: “As a result action has now been taken against the premises and the venue has agreed to close from 12pm on March 11 until 12pm on March 13.

“During this time no licensable activity can take place at the venue.

“This is going to allow for further training of the staff to take place so that we can safeguard the young people of Warrington effectively.”