The newest £1.2 million addition to Cleckheaton's pub scene is to be named after a Spen Valley tanner and farmer.

The Obediah Brooke pub is to be opened in the former premises of Foxy's nightclub in Bradford Road by pub giants JD Wetherspoon.

The 2,800sq ft pub was given its name after a local history firm delved into the town's past. They discovered that in the 1700s parts of Cleckheaton were farmed communally in large open fields. These were enclosed around 1795 and many took the names of their owners.

A number were owned by the Brooke family and Obediah Brooke owned one a few hundred yards from the pub site.

By 1893 the Brooke family owned the town's flourishing tannery and their name is recalled in nearby Brooke Street.

Obediah Brooke was chosen as the name over other suggestions including The Boundary House, The Croft Inn and The Albion.

Keith Joplin, president of Spenborough Chamber of Trade, said it welcomed the new pub. "This is exciting for the town centre," he said. "It fits in very much with our plans for the regeneration of the town and will bring people in who will take advantage of the shops."

Work to transform the building began in July and is due to finish at the beginning of November. The company aims to employ around 25 full and part-time staff, predominantly from the local area.

A Wetherspoon spokesman said the pub will have no form of entertainment, a designated no-smoking area and full wheelchair access. It will serve food all day but will remain a pub, not a restaurant, and will specialise in cask-conditioned and real ales.

JD Wetherspoon already has two pubs in the area - the Sir Titus Salt in Bradford and the Sun Hotel in Shipley.