A PLANT and machinery hiring company celebrating its 50th anniversary has been hailed as part of the ‘backbone of the local economy’.

Astley Hire has been hiring out industrial access, cleaning, cooling and heating equipment as well as scaffolding and tools to trade and industry customers across the north west since 1966.

Leigh MP Andy Burnham was given a tour of the company's base on Jury Street, Leigh, to mark its 50th birthday.

Mr Burnham, who unveiled a plaque to commemorating half-a-century the milestone, said: “I am very pleased and proud that such a strong company is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

"The Leigh economy has changed over the last 50 years but companies like Astley Hire are the backbone of the local economy.

“They still apply the right values to the way things should be done and are very much in tune with what people here think.

"That is why we are so proud of them and why they are clearly a very good employer.”

The family-run firm stems from humble beginnings, having been started by Cyril and Mildred Dorricott as a sideline at their grocery and hardware shop in Astley, but now employs 25 people.

Its customers include household names like Heinz, McVitie's and Patak’s.

Mr Burnham's tour on September 23 included an exhibition of Astley Hire through the ages, with photographs, newspaper cuttings and other memorabilia.

Operational director Michael Dorricott, son of the company's founders, said: “We are just determined to try to carry on the business that our parents started and to make it a success.

“It is wonderful to look back at the last 50 years and know our parents would be proud of what is been achieved here in Leigh.

"We have got clients all over the north west, stretching right up to Cumbria and down to Stoke, and we are always looking to build on that to meet the growing demand for hire equipment.”

His brother Stephen is the company's commercial director.

They run the firm together having worked there since they left school.