Thousand Yards of Ale fest is go

Eight town centre pubs have signed up for a three-day beer festival which will replace the Queen Elizabeth Hall event which was axed due to council costs.

Spearheaded by Jo Potter, who runs the Ashton Arms, the charity festival is earmarked for Friday, March 19 to Sunday, March 21. Funds raised will go to Doctor Kershaw’s Hospice in Royton.

Billed as “A Thousand Yards Of Ale” — because of the distance between the two furthest pubs, the Bank Top Tavern in King Square and the Royal Oak (Rhodes Bank) — other participating pubs are the Three Crowns, Upsteps, Whittles, Jackson’s Pit and Squire Knott.

Jo (40) has been landlady at the Ashton Arms in Clegg Street for six years.

She said: “About 60 beers — many of them new to the area — will be sampled during the event and we are hoping for a great success.”

In addition to raffles and other sponsorship opportunities, drinkers can do a pub crawl across the venues backed by a “cask task” scheme, which offers a 50p reduction on a pint at the venues the week after the festival concludes.

Jo added: “There are loads of good reasons for lovers of real ale to visit. We are sure the event will entice people from all over Greater Manchester and beyond.”

Her efforts have been praised by Mike Robinson, a leading Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) official who saw plans for the usual Queen Elizabeth Hall festival scrapped last year.

He said: “Our pubs are to be congratulated for working together to help fill the void left by the cancellation of the CAMRA-organised beer festival at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.”

Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Phil Woolas is sponsoring a barrel of beer at the Ashton Arms with his researcher, John Battye.

He said: “It will be good for the town centre because it will bring in a lot of people and a local charity will benefit from the event.”