A PUB landlord is hoping to open Accrington’s only brewery before the end of the summer.

Grants Bar landlord Justin Grant is in pre-planning talks with Hyndburn Council over plans to launch a microbrewery which will distribute its ales across the country.

The Manchester Road publican is hoping to extend into the large back rooms of the 200-year-old pub, formerly the Hargreaves Arms, to create the £60,000 enterprise.

Mr Grant hopes that the brewery will become part of the booming microbrewery industry and will see bottles of his beer travel across the UK stamped with ‘Made in Accrington’.

He hopes the bid will also help the ailing local pub industry.

He said: “When we first opened Grants Bar we started with just one beer pump as a token gesture.

“Since then the interest has just grown and grown and we have put more beers on each year. We now have more than any other pub in Accrington and it’s a massive part of our business.

“Local breweries are also vital for the pub trade.

“I know the difference in what we can make beer for, compared to the prices we currently pay, is huge. We will be starting small but the aim is to go national, expand and give Accrington a proper brewery.

“It would be brilliant to see local people drinking local beers.”

The move see the creation of the first Accrington brewed beers in the town in almost ten years since the closure of Picks micro-brewery in Willows Lane in 2004.

Previous Accrington breweries included Bank Brewery in the late 19th Century in Burnley Road and Bentley’s Milnshaw Brewery in Milnshaw Lane, which closed in the 1940s.

If he gets the go-ahead from council planners, the new brewery will be called The Big Clock brewery, and Mr Grant plans to install a large clock outside the brewery premises, which may be open for business before the end of August.