PLANS are under way to hold a Darwen-wide real ale festival for the first time.

Darwen Town Council members are in discussions to organise and fund an event, which is hoped would bring thousands of people into the centre.

Council leader Steve Duncan has charged his deputy, Coun Phil Jones, who sits on the development committee, to find a suitable venue.

Coun Duncan said: “We’re trying to find a potential venue in the town where there are no conflicts of interest – somewhere where one pub or venue wouldn’t do better than the rest in the area.”

This week, the Bridgewater pub in Church Street has held a three-day real ale and cider festival, which was launched by town councillors.

Whitehall councillor John East, who was at the event, said: “I think it would be very good to have a real ale festival in Darwen that isn’t attached to a major brewery.

“Real ale and breweries are part of the Lancashire tradition, but with a lot of closures in recent times because of the economic climate and breweries charging vast amounts of money, people aren’t drinking socially as much anymore.

“There isn’t a real ale festival like what we’re proposing here or in Blackburn, and I think it would be a tourist attraction that would support some of our excellent local microbreweries and Darwen as a whole.

“It has to be done sensibly though: we’re not promoting binge drinking.”