NEW owners are due to take over Burnley's Inn On The Wharf pub at the end of the month.

The popular canal-side hostelry has been bought by midlands independent brewer Hardys and Hansons.

The pub was part of the Yates Group subsidiary, Watling Street Inns, which was sold by the wine lodge company to Hardys for £12 million last December. The sale gives Hardys and Hansons its first pubs in the North West and sees its famous Kimberley ales available in the town for the first time.

The existing management team will remain at the pub following completion of the sale on January 31.

Hardys and Hansons managing director Tim Bonham said his company looked forward to trading in the town.

"We will be looking at the pubs with a view to extending the food service to complement an already excellent beer and drinks trade," he said.