THE manager of a Blackburn pub claims she offers the cheapest pint in town - and it could be the cheapest in the country.

Amanda Johnson, of the Postal Order, on Darwen Street, said as far as she knows she beats all the other pubs hands-down for price.

Her Wetherspoons pub offers lager at £1.39, bitter at £1.25 or £1.09 on Mondays and real ale at £1.50 a pint.

The claim comes a few weeks after a survey by the Campaign for Real Ale found the North West offered the cheapest pint.

CAMRA discovered lager costs an average £1.90 per pint in Manchester and Liverpool - 41p cheaper than in London.

The survey also found real ale sells at £1.69 in the North West - 23p less than the national average. This, it is said, leaves the Blackburn Wetherspoon pub offering the cheapest pint in the country.

Amanda said: "It's probably something to do with the size of the company, but it's also to do with the Wetherspoon motto - cheap beer, good food and nice surroundings."

Gordon Smith of the East Lancashire branch of CAMRA said: "As far as we know it is one of the cheapest in Blackburn.

"But we would rather pubs price more realistically than entering into a price war that could see pubs close."