City's 40th beer festival 'will be extra special'

Ale lovers have been promised an "extra special" edition of the Stoke Beer and Cider Festival as the event marks its 40th anniversary.

Members of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) and lord mayor of Stoke-on-Trent Lyn Sharpe announced the event would take place at King's Hall from 15 to 18 October.

During a launch event held at The Holy Inadequate pub, Potteries Camra chairman Andy Parkin said it was a chance for people to taste different kinds of ale and cider.

"This year is going to be extra special, with it being the 40th. People will come together and enjoy the occasion," he told BBC Radio Stoke.

Sharpe said she had been a Camra member since the 1980s when there were "very few women who were drinking real ale".

She said: "That has now changed and there is now a higher percentage of women who enjoy real ale."

In 2017, Sharpe was named Camra's national campaigner of the year - one of only six women to get the award in the organisation's history.

"I love beer. I was weaned on real ale," she added

Organisers said the festival will feature more than 140 ales and 50 ciders made by breweries from Staffordshire and across the UK.

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