Tours of Banks’s landmark brewery in the Black Country will be launched in the spring, it was announced today.

Work is progressing well on creating a visitor centre at Banks’s headquarters in Wolverhampton, which bosses hope will be ready to open by the end of March or beginning of April.

As well as memorabilia, the centre will also have a bar and will sell a range of Banks’s merchandise. Visitors will be able to see what goes on behind the scenes creating the famous ales when tours of the brewery are launched.

Banks’s spokesman Dan Houle said today: “Work is progressing well on the new visitor centre at the brewery and we look forward to being able to welcome the community of Wolverhampton and visitors to the area to come and enjoy a real part of the city’s heritage.

“We are hoping the new visitor centre will be open in time for Cask Ale Week, a celebration of our national drink, which takes place from March 29-April 5.

“People should watch this space.”

The brewery has stood in Chapel Ash since 1875 and produces a total of 576,000 pints a day of Banks’s, Hanson’s and Mansfield beers.

It has 50 dray lorries, which carry beer, manned by 100 draymen who work round the clock to deliver beer to pubs around the country.

Planning permission for the visitor centre was given the go ahead in April last year by Wolverhampton City Council.