STAFF at the Black Horse Hotel in Darwen are expecting to be rushed off their feet this weekend when they hold their Winter Beer Festival.

Landlord Andy Harding is expecting around 500 ale fans to pass through the pub doors during the four-day event.

And customers should not be disappointed, for he has a wide choice of beers to choose from with 25 to 30 rare and new beers on offer during the event, which will run from Thursday to Sunday.

Four home-made beers produced by Darwen's only brewery, Hopstar, will also be on sale.

The micro brewery was set up by Barry Tyson, of Pole Lane, in September last year and has become a successful venture, which he runs from his garage.

The first beer festival at the Black Horse was held in May 2001, as part of the Darwen Music Live event.

Mr Harding said: "The May festival proved that popular and there was such a demand for it, we decided to expand it and firstly do a January Winter festival.

"That went down really well last year so we thought we'd try another in September too, as an autumn festival.

"We are now holding beer festivals every four months and are expecting around 500 people to attend the festival this weekend.

"Barry Tyson will be featuring four of his Darwen beers which are already going down very well with the regulars in the pub."