People of all ages enjoyed Devizes Beer Festival on Saturday.

The event, at The Wharf, welcomes families, and people spent the afternoon and evening sampling the range of beers on offer and having a good time.

The sun shone all day and those who went were spoilt for choice with more than 50 real ales and ciders plus continental bottled beers.

As with last year the festival was a sellout.

The festival, in its 11th year, is organised by Devizes CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) and chairman Don Jones said: “There were babies in arms right up to people in their 80s. The feedback I got is that everybody had a great time.

“It’s the only beer festival for miles around that is in the open air.

“Most beer festivals are bigger than us and are indoor events. As a result we get more women and families at ours and it reflects the general population of a town than most other beer festivals.

“We always find with families it creates a good atmosphere that doesn’t encourage trouble.”

Most of the people who attended were from Wiltshire but there were also visitors from Birmingham, East Anglia, Devon and London.

Several festival fans sailed to the popular event on their narrowboats and moored up at The Wharf.

“We sold all the tickets in advance earlier than last year which shows how popular the festival is,” said Mr Jones.

“We are looking at ways of expanding but The Wharf is a finite space and we don’t want to pack people in like sardines.”

Festival goers drank a total of 6,500 pints of beer, which was about 80 per cent of the beer on offer, while the entire stock of 800 pints of cider, the entire capacity, went down well.

The first beer to sell out was Devizes-based Wadworth Brewery’s Lily The Pink while the champion beer was Elder Sarum, brewed in Gillingham by ex-Wiltshire County Council employee Paul Smith.

Away from the bar, face painting and games were on offer to keep children entertained and Devizes Guides sold hot dogs and burgers.

Six bands played including Devizes Town Band, Clair Kearley/Tom Harris and Fat Freddies Cat.

Money from unused beer tokens will be donated to the Crown Centre in Devizes.

Mr Jones said planning was starting for next year’s beer festival, which will be held on the first Saturday in July.