Holy last orders! Ludlow church to host beer festival
A Ludlow church will host a new beer festival next week.
St Laurence’s Church is to host the festival, named The Ale Wife Beer Fest.
Following the major success of similar events at Hull and Grantham where 3,000 to 4,000 people attended, the Rector of St Laurence’s Kelvin Price was keen to follow suit.
He said: "The Ale Wife Beer Fest is a great opportunity to bring together local businesses and customers in the awesome historic surroundings of St Laurence’s nave.
"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 there 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.
"Following the success of the summer beer garden, it’s all part of a new direction for St Laurence’s, giving the church back to the community as it was in medieval times. You probably never realised that Church Ale was a medieval way of raising funds to maintain our church buildings.
"It’s going to be worth seeing, 30 championship beers and ciders, and a Ludlow Gin bar; the nave will be lit up with coloured lights and they’ll be live music on both nights. We’ve really enjoyed working with local business to bring this together, we look forward to seeing you there."
Chris Thorpe, manager of The Church Inn in the town, said: "We’ve really enjoyed collaborating with St Laurence’s this summer, the beer garden has been a valuable extension to our business, people have really enjoyed being in the historic environment of the church, it's great for our town, the visitors love it, the beer festival is set to be a great success."
The festival will take place on October 19 and 20 from 12noon to 11pm.
Early bird tickets are £5 from Eventbrite, or £7 on the door.
Tickets include a programme and commemorative glass. Food is served all day, with live music from 6.30pm. Saturday’s family afternoon from 12-4pm includes children’s activities, a bouncy castle, crafts and it is free entry for children.