Shropshire Star

Hundreds pour into Ludlow church for ale festival

A Ludlow church saw hundreds of visitors pour through its doors for a new beer festival.

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Hundreds attended the festival on Friday and Saturday

St Laurence’s Church played host to the Ale Wife Beer Fest over the weekend and saw the bar staff rushed off their feet and new faces calling into the nave.

It was held as a follow up to its summer beer garden as part of efforts to engage with the community, as the church did in medieval times when serving Church Ale was a way of raising funds to maintain places of worship.

Hundreds attended the festival on Friday and Saturday

Shaun Ward, of the organising team, said: "The festival has been a huge success. It's been absolutely packed with visitors ordering mainly beer, gin and cider.

"We're looking at around 500 people coming in and the weather has been good as well which helps."

The festival also featured a family session offering crafts and a bouncy castle at no extra charge for children.

The event was organised following the success of similar events in Hull and Grantham where 3,000 to 4,000 people attended.

Ludlow's Ale Wife Beer Fest featured 30 championship beers and ciders, a gin bar, coloured lights and live music on both nights.

Executive manager Shaun Ward

Rector the Rev Kelvin Price said: "We’ve named the festival after one of our unique misericords, which depicts an ale wife being thrown into hell for short changing people of their beer.

"More seriously though, the proceeds of the festival will go directly to the routine maintenance of St Laurence’s, this costs us £15,000 per year.

"This vital income will help us keep this building open for the use of the whole community."

The Church Inn public house in Ludlow was one of the businesses to support the festival.