S&B beer festival

Southport & Birkdale cricket club are putting on a beer festival next weekend (Saturday 17-Sunday 18).

The festival, which features 15 beers, is open to the public with a £5 entry charge that entitles you to try “six or seven” beers in third-of-a-pint glasses before being invited to buy halves and pints “at reduced rates”.

There will be food on sale and Birkdale 2nds will be playing a match on Saturday, which is as pleasant a way of whiling away the time with a couple of beers as I can think of.

In the beer line up there will be three brews from the brilliant Southport Brewery, three from Cain’s and nine others selected in conjunction with Camra member and all-round good egg Martin Christopher.

If you’ve never been to the S&B club, it’s a really smart bar with good views of the cricket pitch and tennis courts. Bar prices are normally a bit on the high side, but the free entertainment is worth the extra.

Bar manager Matt Harrison said: “We wanted to do our bit for the summer festival season in Southport and also to celebrate that we’ve awarded a Cask Marque – which means drinkers can be confident that we look after our beer properly.”