My Burnley: Royal Dyche landlady Justine Bedford loves to go travelling but her heart belongs to the town she will always call home

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? My name is Justine Bedford, I am 31 and the owner of the Royal Dyche pub in Burnley

How long have you lived/worked in Burnley? I have lived and worked in Burnley all my life.

Why do you choose to live/stay/work in Burnley? I choose to remain working in Burnley after I went travelling around the world. I’d been at the pub a year and was at a point in my life where I needed to figure out whether I wanted to go into teaching sport or fully take on the pub. Going travelling enabled me to think hard about the decision and I haven’t looked back since. It also showed me how much of a special town Burnley is, although I enjoy seeing the world Burnley will always be home. We have a unique community feel and the people are incredible.

What do you think are the best parts of the town? I would say that one of the best parts of our town is the community spirit - how we come together during difficult times and the support of local businesses. We are truly spoilt by our incredible surroundings too, with the views of greenery and Pendle Hill.

Is there anything you dislike about Burnley? The one thing that I truly dislike about our town is when something negative happens we all seem to get tarnished with the same brush. Burnley is a town full of great people and people need to be reminded of that. We shouldn’t let the minority spoil it for the majority. When something positive happens in the town we need to be sharing it and shouting about it, let people know that Burnley is a great town to be from.

How would you describe Burnley to a visitor who has never been here before? I would say it’s an experience and you’d be surprised how nice it really is compared to what people’s expectations are. Every town has its bad points but it doesn’t take much to find the good in ours.