A PUB has closed suddenly just eight months after it received a zero star rating in a food hygiene inspection.

Ye Olde Starre Inne in Purewell, Christchurch has been boarded up but the reasons behind its closure are not yet known.

According to Companies House, the business was dissolved on October 30 via compulsory strike-off.

This came just months after a similar notice was served in March, but was suspended in May after an objection was lodged against it.

The pub, well-known for its all you can eat Sunday carvery, came in for heavy criticism when food inspectors visited in March.

A report produced by a council inspector following a visit to the pub revealed a range of spoiled foods were found at the premises.

They included a semi-frozen slug on top of a packet of raw chicken and Red Leicester cheese that was more than a year past it sell-by date.

Decomposed mushrooms that had liquefied were also found, as was Greek yoghurt which was six months out of date.

The premises was identified as having a high potential of contamination by harmful bacteria such as E.coli.

When the results of the inspection were revealed, staff insisted out of date food had never been served to customers.

And landlady Chloe Frost said the pub was undergoing a refurbishment at the time of the visit and renovations are still on-going.

The Daily Echo has attempted to contact the pub but has not yet been able to get a response.

The pub is the latest in a series of closures across the area.

Christchurch has lost 20 per cent of its bars since 2010, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

They include the Goose and Timber Sports Bar in Barrack Road, near the Fountain roundabout, which has closed permanently and remains boarded up.

Other popular pubs which have closed their doors in the town include The Fairmile, The Catherine Wheel, The Eight Bells, The Fountain, The Golfer’s Arms, The New Inn, The New Lodge and The Royalty Inn.

Bournemouth has also lost more than one in five of its pubs in recent years.

In 2010 there were 90 pubs and bars but by 2017 that had fallen to 70.

Poole has lost 10 pubs since 2010, or 14 per cent of an original 70.