BLACKBURN'S new £500,000 luxury burger bar opens to the public today.

Frankie's is in the shell of the former Pitcher's Bar in Salford will hold a launch party at 11am as it welcome its first customers.

It is the latest outlet for a Batley-base company which plans to open five more branches in the North-West and opens one in Bradford next month.

Its bosses are looking at Burnley, Preston and Bolton as possible new sites for Frankie's Burger restaurants.

The Blackburn branch, which has 170 seats, has created 35 full and part-time jobs

One of the UK’s leading fast casual dining brands is to launch its Blackburn store creating 35 jobs to staff its open time of 11am to 10.30pmseven days a week. It will offer halal, and vegetarian options.

A spokeswoman for Frankie’s Burgers said : “We are very excited and delighted to finally open our Blackburn store and invest in what we believe is the perfect balance of amazing food, good customer experience with the right in-store ambience.

“We genuinely believe our proposition is totally different to what has been available to Blackburn customers and the main reason we chose this place for our second store. "

She added: “We have strong belief in our fresh, healthy and amazing tasting food and want to bring that same experience to Blackburn.

“Our aim is to now grow the brand across the UK including the North West as part of our ongoing growth strategy.”