EAST Lancashire's latest micro-brewery has started serving its first beer in a Great Harwood pub.

The first pint of Bowley Bitter, from the Red Rose Brewery, Great Harwood, has been pulled at The Royal Hotel, Station Road.

The 3.7 per cent real ale proved so popular that the first cask was drunk dry in a matter of days.

The beer, brewed by Peter Booth, the pub's co-owner, is named after Bowley Hill near Great Harwood and has a picture of the landmark on the front of the pump clip.

Peter's wife Janice said: "It's been a success. It came on line last Monday and everyone's really taken to it."

These are interesting times for the pub. It has been named in the Good Beer Guide 2003, and the bar has been moved to a different part of the pub; a function room has been created out of the pub's former coach house. The owners, though, have tried to keep the ethos that has seen the pub go from strength to strength since they took it over. "We call it a real ale and real music pub," said Janice. "We don't have any karaoke - it's all live bands

"We've got a number of live acts coming here, including a couple of acoustic bands from America.

"We even have jamming sessions on a Mondays. This Friday we've also got the Black Sabbath tribute band Slack Babbath."