All here for the beer as the Conti fest returns

The festival, which begins today, this year features more beers than ever before, thanks to the explosion of craft breweries across the UK in recent years.

And music lovers will also be pleased as the festival also hosts a great music line up over two nights in the pub’s outdoor marquee.

Bands who will be playing include Prestonian soulsters The Templebys and Wigan and Preston indie heroes, Victorian Dad.

Also on the bill are the atmospheric Deep Cabaret 3, rockers This Dirty Swamp, singer songwriter Seamus McLoughlin, melodic four piece Laekyn, Burnley alt rockers Heat Vs Light, Preston’s funky collective Mobius Loop, psychedelic surf rockers Cactus Knife and funky folk outfit Spiral Scouts.

And there is Lancashire born London emigre Tom Hyatt, Lancaster chanteuse Katy Pickles, former Star27 frontman Frank Beaver in his new guise as FirstNameFrank, North West singer David Kelly, Sweeney Astry, and Chorley’s hip young folksters, George Harris and the Memory Makers. Music starts from 6pm on Friday and then from 12.10pm on Saturday for an all day session until Victorian Dad take the stage at 8pm followed by The Templebys at 9pm to close the day’s entertainment.

Meanwhile, in the South Meadow Lane pub’s Arts Space from 5pm tonight through to just before midnight on Saturday, a greater range of beers, ciders and perries will be on offer than ever before.

And, on Friday, girls from the Craft Cider Company will be conducting tasting sessions for over 40 different small batch ciders and perrys with anyone who wants to join in. Landlord Jeremy Rowlands said: “The recent boom in craft beer brewing from independent microbreweries, inspired by the burgeoning American scene, has led to a proliferation of new and interesting beers for the connoisseur, and there’ll be a whole host of them to choose from at this latest festival.

“As usual, there’ll be well over a 100 ales, lagers, ciders and perrys on offer in the beer hall, in addition to a great roster of free live music in a large marquee in the beer garden, and delicious food, including the massively popular hog roast.”

The Continental 10th Beer Festival run tonight, Friday and Saturday. Entry is free.