The third annual Beccles Beer Festival is all set to take place at Beccles Public Hall next weekend.

The festival is a major fundraising event for Beccles Lido and has become a focal attraction for the town with small groups of real ale enthusiasts visiting from across East Anglia and beyond.

Graham Elliott, event organiser said: 'We hope to build on the massive success of the previous two festivals which exceeded all of our expectations. The event will have 30 real ales from within 30 miles of Beccles Public Hall, as well as five local traditional ciders.

'But the event is much more than a celebration of real ale and cider. It is a community event in a community owned public hall raising valuable money for our fantastic community owned open-air swimming pool.'

Mr Elliott said they were delighted to have a limited edition 2014 version of the Beccles Beer Festival glass, as well as a half pint festival glass for the first time.

The glasses are available to take home for £2, but if you don't want to take your souvenir glass home then you can simply get your £2 deposit back.

New breweries this year include Barrell and Sellers from St Cross South Elmham, The Peoples Brewery from Thurlton and a Suffolk lager from Calvors. There will be a large number of award winning ales and a few ales that are very hard to find, especially in draught form.

To complement the real ale there is a full programme of music on both evenings, with top local band Murphys Lore headlining on Saturday, November 15, and Beccles singer and entertainer Tosh doing the same slot the previous evening.

And to make sure the football supporters are kept happy, the England-Slovenia game will be shown on the screen at 5pm on the Saturday with sound available at the very front of the hall.

Soft drinks will be available for non-drinkers, and hot and cold snacks.

Shaun Crowley, chief Executive of Beccles Lido Limited said: 'We would like to thank all the volunteers who are working hard to make this a successful event and to raise valuable funds for Beccles Lido.

There is a lot of work to do over the next couple of years at The Lido including the replacement of the porta-cabin buildings that house the toilets and changing rooms with a more permanent and suitable building.

'While we will seek grant funding for this work we will undoubtedly need to do some major fund-raising ourselves and the beer festival is vital for this.'

The event coincides with the Beccles Real Craft Festival next Saturday, November 15, at St John's Ambulance Hall on Blyburgate, giving visitors a double attraction.

• The festival is open from 4pm until 11pm on Friday, November 14, noon to 11pm on Saturday, November 15, and noon to 6pm on Sunday, November 16, with admission free on all three days.

• Musical acts are as follows: Friday, 6pm, Ellie Wareham; 7pm, Mary and Anahata; 9pm, Tosh. Saturday, 5pm, Football, England v Slovenia; 7pm, Tin River Band; 9pm, Murphy's Lore.

• For more information visit www.becclesbeerfestival.co.uk/BecclesBeerFest