THERE is nothing unusual about celebrating your birthday with a glass of beer - unless the drink in your glass has been brewed for the occasion.

That is the situation Bewdley woman Anne Wilkins hopes to find herself in when she turns 50 in June - toasting the landmark with a special birthday brew.

The founder of the town's beer festival, which has attracted hundreds of visitors for the past two years, has just sold Tipplers real ale off licence on Load Street after running it for 18 years.

But CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) member Anne, who was "terribly sad" to pass the business on, can still be seen working behind the counter serving her regular hardcore ale-drinker customers.

"With my resources I couldn't see me taking the business any further," she said.

"Supermarkets and big chains are forcing the independents out of business - 'cheap' has taken over.

"And Bewdley needs some spark put back into it. Trade has dwindled over the past few years - any shopkeeper will tell you that."

She blames this trend on increasingly cheap foreign holidays and a lack of activities in Bewdley to keep visitors coming back.

Until December, Anne had been running the shop on her own for eight years after divorcing.

"Whereas the big off-licences dictate what you can buy, we give customers a choice. We specialise in getting things for people they couldn't get elsewhere - like that drink you tried on holiday in Majorca three years ago."

Anne realised an ambition when she set up the Bewdley Beer Festival in August 1999, which attracted 700 people in its first year and about 100 more in 2000, despite a "wash-out" Bank Holiday weekend.

And she hopes one of the attractions at this year's festival will be her own birthday beer, which she plans to concoct at Teme Valley Brewery.

She said: "I've sold it, kept it and drunk it - but so far I've never brewed it!"

Anne, being a woman in a traditionally male business, says she has encountered chauvinism from fellow CAMRA members at beer festivals - and often pub landlords.

She added: "I know when beer is off, and when I complain they tend to argue with me."

When running the shop Anne, who has a grown up son and daughter, regularly found herself working 60 or 70 hours a week, and has enjoyed more free time since selling the business.

But she still maintains a passion for the trade, despite the younger generations' lack of interest in real ale: "If it's not in a can, younger people aren't interested.

"Most people think real ale is flat and it isn't.

"I would challenge anyone who says it is to come in the shop and I'll give them a drink of beer!"