BAR managers across Darwen have said that the town’s nightlife is experiencing its ‘best-ever Christmas season’.

Over the past year, a number of venues have opened up in the town included Level One Live, Esco Bar, Cin Cin and H2O Bar, drawing in more and more people from across the North West.

MORE TOP STORIES:

Some pub staff have said the town is now so full of people on Saturday nights,they have likened it to cities such as Preston.

Gary Smith, manager at The Bridgewater, said it was almost ‘unheard of’ for a town as small as Darwen to be attracting so many people.

He said: “There’s been about seven or eight venues coming into the town in the last 12 months and I think that is so good for the people of Darwen.

“There’s a bit of something for everyone.

“We are genuinely competing with big cities now like Preston, you see all sorts of people from across the region coming into Darwen.

“It’s unheard of really for a town this small to get as big as it has.

“It has without a doubt been the busiest and best Christmas period I have ever seen.”

It comes after Cllr Phil Riley, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s executive member for regeneration, said that Blackburn could ‘learn from Darwen’s nightlife’ which he branded ‘a great success story’.

Cllr Riley also compared Darwen to Manchester and Liverpool following the abundance of night time venues opening, which has also included The Old Chapel Wetherspoons and Mediterranean restaurant and cocktail bar Essence.

Andrew Shorrock, owner of gin bar Cin Cin, said Darwen was harking back to how Blackburn was in the 1990s.

He said: “It has 100 per cent been the busiest Christmas in Darwen. We have been packed all the time.

“We are at full capacity every Saturday night, people seem to be loving it.

“It feels like Blackburn used to be in the 1990s. I love how new venues are popping up all the time.

“The more people come here the better.”

Cllr John Roberts, chair of the Darwen Town Centre Partnership Board, said: “The nightlife of Darwen has been an important part of its economy. It’s definitely the place to go in East Lancashire now.”