NATIONAL butchers chain Crawshaw’s will open a new £250,000 store in Blackburn before Easter.

The firm is recruiting for 18 staff at the Railway Road outlet, which is being refurbished for an opening in mid-March.

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The town centre development has been warmly welcomed by Blackburn with Darwen Council’s regeneration boss, Cllr Phil Riley, and Chamber of Trade president Tony Duckworth.

It will become the Rotherham-based group’s 41st store and its 16th in the North West since it moved into the region with a new Bolton shop in July last year.

The shop will offer customers a range of quality raw meat, as well as hot cooked food, which will all be prepared in-store by a qualified on-site butcher.

Crawshaw’s chief executive Noel Collett said: “We’ve been working on our new Blackburn store for several weeks now and the fit-out is going exceptionally well.

“We’re hoping to open our doors to the general public in time for Easter.

“This opening marks our 41st for the company, with more stores planned across the UK before the end of the year.

“We have invested over £1 million in Lancashire and we’re delighted that Blackburn is our 16th opening in the North West region.

“The local community is telling us they can’t wait for us to open our doors, so we are all very excited and look forward to mid-March”.

As part of its rapid expansion plan, over the next eight years, Crawshaws plans to have 200 stores nationwide.

Cllr Riley said: “This is really good news and fits in with our drive to revive Blackburn town centre.

“It is well situated between the Mall, the new bus station and the Cathedral Quarter.

“It will be a real addition to the town centre’s shopping offer.”

Blackburn and District Chamber of Commerce president Mr Duckworth said: “This is a really welcome and exciting development.

“It’s a long time since Blackburn town centre had a street level butcher’s.

“It will be a big boost to Railway Road and local shopping.”

The new butcher’s outlet replaces a discount store.

In early 2015, Crawshaws acquired the Manchester-based Gabbotts Farm chain of butchers.