SPECIALLY themed food offerings will be washed down by a selection of traditionally brewed beers at a real ale festival this weekend.

Chester-le-Street Cricket Club is living up to its reputation for serving a regular range of real ales, by staging its second annual beer festival.

The two-day celebration is the culmination of a successful year on and off the field for the Ropery Lane club.

While the cricketers landed the double of the North-East Premier League title and the ECB National Club Championship, silverware has also found its way to the clubhouse.

It recently retained its Club of the Year title at the Durham Beer Festival, and also took the regional club award, from the North-East branch of the Campaign for Real Ale.

Following the success of the first festival last year, the club is staging its second beer drinkers’ bonanza, on Friday and Saturday.

It will include 18 different offerings, many from micro-breweries round the region, in the upstairs function room, the hub of the festival.

But a further wider known real ales will be available downstairs in the bar and lounge.

But to help soak up the beer, a special festival food menu has been drawn up for the weekend.

Bar manager David Avery said: "We thought it was appropriate to put things on with a beer theme.

"Therefore, we’ve got things like ale sausages with caramelised onions, black pudding and chips, steak and ale pie and beer-battered onion rings."

A donation will be made from festival proceeds to Willowburn Hospice, at Lanchester.

Doors open at 11am, running through to last orders at 11pm on both days, with no admission charge.

Entry is via the Mains Park Road gateway to the clubhouse.