MORE than a thousand people enjoying the warm weather at the beach drank a beer festival dry on its second day.

Manningtree Beer Festival ordered extra booze for the three-day long event after running out early last year.

But as hundreds of festival-goers attended on Friday night and Saturday, organisers had to close the tent on Quay Street early.

Pete Shakespeare, from the organising committee, said: “The ironic thing is we had more beer than last year but ran out earlier than we did last year.

“We got more cider, Prosecco, wine and four more barrels of beer.

“At 6pm on Saturday we thought we wouldn’t be much longer and at 7pm we closed.”

But despite the premature beer drought, organisers say it was one of the best festivals they have had in the 14 years it’s been running.

Manningtree mayor Ruth Stocks cut the ribbon to open the event on Friday night.

Mr Shakespeare added: “Because of the weather there were so many people on the beach.

“What was nice was people brought their kids down so the parents had a drink and the kids played in the water.

“It was fantastic.

“In terms of atmosphere it was the nicest one ever.

“There was something very special about it.

“We had some people come along with their guitars and play music and sing.”

Organisers are now set to meet and come up with ideas for the event next year.

But Mr Shakespeare said it is not just a question of getting more barrels of beer as there are issues with storage and barrels have to be given 24 hours for the real ale to settle before they can be served.