The times when Norwich was said to have a pub for every day of the year have gone, but a new survey has shown the city is still one of the pub capitals of the country.

Norwich is in joint third place when it comes to the number of pubs per square mile, according to the Britain's Pub Capitals study.

Boasting 152 pubs, that works out at 10 per square mile, according to the analysis by Liberty Games, which supplies pool tables, and arcade machines to pubs across the country.The place with the highest pub density is Portsmouth, with its 181 pubs working out as 12 for each square mile of the city.

Second spot was taken by Liverpool, with Merseysiders able to choose from 494 pubs - 11 per square mile.

With 10 per square mile, Bristol and Brighton and Hove were equal with Norwich, although in terms of the actual number of pubs they exceeded Norwich, with 444 and 334, respectively.

Next month will see the return of Norwich's popular City of Ale festival, which is now in its eighth year.

City of Ale was initiated to get people rediscovering the joy of great pubs.

It aimed to inspire them with the ever-growing range of crafted cask ales from the region's breweries - and to generate economic, social and educational activity.

Last year's 10-day celebration saw 43 Norwich pubs, 36 Norfolk and Suffolk breweries and 250 different real ales involved.

Around 55,000 pints of cask ale were consumed, and 95pc of pubs reported more people coming through their doors as part of an 'annual pilgrimage' for the event.

This year's event, which will take place in a record 48 pubs, will run from Thursday, May 24 until Sunday, June 3.

Historical ale trails will be launched at this year's City of Ale as points of interest around the fine city are brought into the usual pub crawls.

For the first time this year the trails will include information about historic sites and landmark buildings along the way.

Norwich City Hosts will assist in guiding visitors round the city and steering them to a suitable pub.

The Norwich Evening News has, through our Love Your Local campaign, been highlighting how important it is that people use the pubs in their community, or they could risk losing them.