A RECORD attendance toasted their glasses and said “cheers” last weekend as the Chippenham Beer Festival celebrated its 25th running.

Held at the Olympiad Leisure Centre across Friday and Saturday (April 22-23), nearly 2,000 ale and cider enthusiasts from around the UK and abroad visited the popular festival.

“It was fantastic, really, really successful,” said Abigail Newton, a member of the Chippenham Beer Festival Committee and director of The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), which hosts the event.

“It was not completely sold out for the weekend, Friday was sold out but I don’t think we sold out for Saturday but we still got just over 1,900 people through the door.

“We had lots of new people and young people who had never been to a beer festival before and we got great comments about the quality of beer, the range and the atmosphere.

“We had a few distinguished guests such as Chippenham MP Michelle Donelan, MEP Julia Reid and Chippenham Town Mayor David Powell and they all stayed for quite a long time and we got some good feedback.

“There were no problems and it was just wonderful.”

Around 90 different beers and 30 different ciders were on offer from across the UK with 105 firkin, or casks, coming through the door combining to make a total of approximately 7,560 pints.

A number of awards were also handed out at the festival, including the CAMARA Champion Beer of the South West for 2016 which was given to a beer called Head from Devon brewery, Honiton.

Customers also had the chance to vote on their beer and cider of the festival, with Mexi-Cocoa Chocolate Vanilla Stout from Rebel brewery in Penryn, Cornwall, taking the former and Spring Surprise from Slaughterford brewery, Handmade Cider, taking the latter.