Brewery Daniel Thwaites is set to leave Blackburn town centre after over 200 years, it announced today.

Thwaites said it is working with Blackburn with Darwen council chiefs to help identify a suitable new site.

And Sainsbury's has agreed to buy its 7.2-acre Penny Street site, subject to planning consent for a new supermarket.

Thwaites bosses said the company’s Star Brewery, which was built in 1966, would require extensive modernisation if the plant were to remain operational.

Thwaites, which employs 280 people in the town centre and 80 based at a distribution warehouse in Shadsworth, expects the move to take between three and four years to complete.

The company’s chief executive Richard Bailey said: “This is a great opportunity for us to address the challenges that we face with our existing brewery and to reinvigorate our business by building a new, modern and efficient brewery.

“While we have been in the centre of Blackburn for over 200 years, times have changed and these plans allow us to lay strong foundations for the future.”

Tony Halstead, northern correspondent for the drinks trade newspaper The Morning Advertiser, said he was not surprised by the move.

He said: “Its premises were built years ago and they have probably found the site is too big and inefficient.”

Thwaites has more than 300 pubs and inns and 6 four-star hotels and spas.

It also supplies drinks to many independently-owned pubs, clubs and restaurants as well as supermarkets.