THE first ever Winter Ales Festival held in Redditch at the weekend has been hailed a huge success by its organisers.

The Redditch and Bromsgrove branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) were delighted with the turn-out at the festival, which took place at Centrepoint on Friday and Saturday.

More than 3,000 pints of real ale, cider and perry were sold at the event with the last drop running out a few minutes after last orders were called.

Festival organiser Stuart Dench said: "The hope was that licensees in Redditch will now look at placing more emphasis in serving quality and particularly local beers and ciders.

"The success of the festival has shown that customers of all ages are interested in drinking quality beers and ciders."

During the event, 32 new members of CAMRA were signed up and 660 people visited the Ipsley Street venue. Beers on offer included Dark Star, Cotleigh, Goffs and Harviestoun from breweries in England and Scotland and guests could also sample a diverse range of ciders and perry. Beer of the Festival was awarded to Over the Edge from the Kinver Brewery near Stourbridge with the Perry/Cider festival going to Gwatkin's Perry from Abbeydore, Herefordshire.

The event also managed to raise £156 for the vital County Air Ambulance service.