Continental beer fest proves a winner

from left, Jordan Halliwell, Katie Pugh, Matt Morby, David Crain, Dan Russell and Becky Coupe at the Continental's Beer Festival in Preston

Organisers say 2,000 tickets have been sold for today’s all-day session alone, with 4,000 snapped have been snapped up for the whole four-day spectacle, which began at The Continental pub, on South Meadow Lane on Thurdsay night.

Almost 200 beers are on offer and an array of live music and hot food,

The festival has been staged at The Continental pub since 2009 and has usually been held twice a year since then.

Robyn Talbot, who organises the event’s live music, said; “It’s got to the stage now that this festival is a major event in the Preston calendar and a place where people like to meet up.

“You’ve got great beer, great music and great food at one big event so it is just growing and growing.

“What is good about it is that, from a musical viewpoint, you can have a really eclectic mix, so we’ve had a reggae band like Zamaica playing tonight and then a Hillybilly group such as Sean Keefe and the Hostages. We’ve had a funk band, The Templebys, coming along, it’s been great.”

Some of the beers and ciders are sourced from across Lancashire, but the brews come from all over the UK, including new pale ales like Abstract Jungles ‘Sturdy’ or Bad Seed’s ‘Horizons’.

Pub owner Jeremy Rowlands, who oversees the events, now plans to hold The Continental’s second festival of 2017 at the end of September.

Today’s session runs until 12.30am but tickets are sold out.

On Sunday the event is from noon until 8pm and entry for this session is free.