Beer runs out at annual festival

A Herefordshire beer festival has been stopped early after it was "drunk completely dry", said organisers.

The Sunday session of the Beer on the Wye festival has been called off, despite an emergency delivery of 18 barrels of drink on Saturday afternoon.

Herefordshire Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) said: "The cider bar was closed at about 9pm and virtually the last drop of beer went by closing time."

The event, which is in its fifth year, began in Hereford on Friday.

Mark Haslam, from Camra, said Sunday's family fun events had also been cancelled because food had also run out.

Local beer

He apologised for any disappointment caused and said this year the attendance had been about 30% higher than last year.

"People just kept coming and coming," he said. "I mean it is a nice location, in a marquee by the river, but we have had nice weather before."

The festival normally attracts about 3,000 people over three days, but about 3,800 had already attended by Saturday night, he said.

He also believed the popularity of local beers was growing and helped attract people of all ages.

Mr Haslam said organisers brought in their back-up plan and ordered extra barrels on Saturday, but this was soon used up.

He said next year Camra would order more beer and have a bigger back-up supply.

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