It's enough to make a beer drinker weep into his pint - a Sussex museum is about to pour ale and lager down the drain.

However, the bottles that will be emptied are slightly past their sell-by date.

Ale and lager, produced to mark a series of Royal events during the Seventies and Eighties by brewer King and Barnes, have been donated to Horsham Museum for an exhibition.

The brewery was based in the town until it was taken over last year and the bottles are of particular interest because of their labels.

The bottles were produced in 1977, 1981 and 1986, to mark the Queen's Silver Jubilee and the marriages of Prince Charles and the Duke of York.

However, before they can be put on display they must be emptied of their contents.

Curator Jeremy Knight said the move was necessary in case the bottles were broken and the lager damaged other exhibits.

He said: "I'm not a beer drinker but even I think an ale brewed in 1977 might taste a bit foul now.

"Bottles with their decorative labels are in perfect condition and will be kept as a permanent reminder of the days when the people of Britain celebrated Royal events with Horsham-brewed ale and lager."

He said the bottles would also go on display when the museum paid future tributes to the role King and Barnes played in the life of the town.

The brewery's closure last year ended a 150-year tradition in Horsham and resulted in the loss of 60 jobs.

The company, which had 57 pubs in the South, was taken over by a Dorset-based rival and its Bishopric site is being re-developed.

King and Barnes had a colourful history with local people crowding at the gates when it became one of the first buildings in the town with electric lights.

In 1944, the brewery was involved in an amazing plan to deliver beer to the troops by putting it in the reserve fuel tanks of wartime aircraft.

The museum has similar memorabilia dating back to the reign of Queen Victoria, which Mr Knight says shows the tradition of publicly celebrating Royal occasions with a drink.

The bottles were originally donated to the Billingshurst branch of Help the Aged, which has now donated them to the museum.