Beer lovers had an ale of a time at an annual festival in Halstead.

The three-day beer festival, now in its 8th year, was hosted by Halstead Cricket Club and started on Saturday.

It provided thirsty customers with 16 different beers and three different ciders from local breweries, including Nethergate, Crouch Vale and Mauldons.

As well as the attraction of flowing drinks, guests enjoyed watching four well-played cricket matches across the bank holiday weekend and performances from Halstead band Anything Else on Saturday night.

Richard Hume, who helped organise the event, said: “It was very successful and very well attended.

“We had a good couple of hundred people through the doors on Saturday and about 150 to 200 people on Sunday.

“The weather stayed dry so we had lots of people drinking outside.

“The cricket games went well and there were Halstead sides on all three days. There was only one defeat throughout the whole lot.”

For more pictures, see tomorrow's Halstead Gazette.