A MUCH-LOVED pub is to close for good "with great reluctance" next month.

The Cricketers Arms Bar, in Coney Lane, Keighley announced this morning that it will shut its doors on March 12.

It revealed the news in a post on its Facebook page and cited the reason for closing is the pub is "no longer being a viable business".

The pub will running a fundraiser for Sue Ryder Manorlands Hospice on its final day and urged people to visit the premises in the coming weeks and attend that event.

The full post said: "Dear customers, it is with great reluctance that we make this announcement.

"Unfortunately the Cricketers Arms will cease trading on the 12th of March, we have not taken this decision lightly but unfortunately we are no longer a viable business.

"We'd like to thank all our customers past and present for all the good times had between these walls.

"We hope to see as many of you as possible in the coming weeks and that you can all attend the fundraiser for Manorlands on the 12th.

"Thanks for the fun, John, Helen, Jack, Brad, Makeala, Jo, Emma, Liv, Charlotte, Jackie and of course Bridie!"

The Cricketers Arms Bar is perhaps best-known for its other-wordly resident.

It is said the ghost of a man wearing a flat cap haunts the pub.

A landlord of the pub in 2009 said he had seen the figure three times when locking up and suspected the man died in the late 1950s following an incident in the building.