Leamington Beer Festival returned last weekend, bringing the local community together, under the arches.

Hosted in collaboration with Windmill Hill Brewery and Taproom, the event took place over 16 to 19 April.

Taproom Manager, Ben Cowan shared: "We thought that we might be onto something. Every self-respecting provincial town needs a beer festival, especially a Spa Town, like Leamington. The Victorians came to the town for the water, now that has dried up, they come for the beer! 

"It was sad that the previous LeamBeerFest was killed off by Covid, and the organisers all moved away. This was held just a stone's throw from our Windmill Hill Brewery, at the Band Factory on the Althorpe Business Estate, so it made perfect sense for us to host it."

He added that the team were "keen to carry on the flame of raising money for a local charity."

The event raised money for local charity, Helping Hands which supports homeless individuals in and around Leamington.

The Windmill Hill team shared: "As a community organisation, seeking to bring musicians, film fans, and craft beer lovers together, we were also committed to celebrating Warwickshire Brewing. So, we invited Fosse Way, Bishops Itchington; Twisted Barrel, Coventry; Slaughterhouse, Warwick; Byatts, Coventry; Brubl, Leamington to all be part of our cask and keg bar offering.

"We had no idea whether people would turn up. We are acutely aware that money in our pockets is also drying up. We 'Tapped the Casks' on Thursday; footfall was moderate, but come Friday: "Build it, and they will come!" There was JOY - live music got people moving; customers loved the stories about named local brewers, like Alex & Ryan at Slaughterhouse in Warwick.

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"This wasn't big beer built by machines...far off, this was a local craft product made with human hands...

"By the time the Saturday sunshine came along, there were hundreds of people outside, playing Cornhole, listening to local musicians and coming back for more pints of cask beer.

"The guest beers on the keg and cask wall were sold out by Saturday night, but as we are a brewery, you can't drink it dry... So we carried on into Sunday."

For those who missed out on last week's event, this bank holiday weekend (3 May) will see the return of the popular Off the Rails event.

Windmill Hill Brewery sponsors Nub News.