Raise a glass to 31st Luton Beer and Cider Festival

Fans of real ale and real cider will gather at High Town Community Sports and Arts Centre from Thursday, February 20 to Saturday, February 22.

It will be the eighth year in a row that the South Bedfordshire CAMRA event has been held at the venue.

Festival organiser Mike Coombes said: “It has become an event that thousands of people look forward to every year and I’m pleased to say we expect the 31st in the series to be as good as ever. It will be great to see faces familiar and new. The festival is staffed entirely by unpaid volunteers, which is testament to the community of Luton that also turns out in droves to support what becomes the biggest real ale venue in town for three days.”

As well as being an event experienced real ale fans look forward to, the festival is a great chance for people new to real ale to try different styles.

There’s a vast choice of natural real ales, real ciders (apples) and real perries (pears) and a wide selection of bottled beers from Belgium, Germany and elsewhere. Hot and cold food, provided by Active Luton, will be available at all sessions up to 9pm, (only cold food between 3 and 5.30pm).

There will be live entertainment (in the Theatre Hall only) on Friday and Saturday evenings. On Friday the Electric Uke Orchestra will perform and on Saturday it will be Cerberus.

Visitors will be able to join CAMRA, the benefits of which include free entry to many beer festivals.

Paid-up CAMRA members can get in free to this year’s festival while non-members pay £3 on Thursday and Friday and £2 on Saturday. Visit www.lutonbeerfestival.com.