Following six successful autumn events, the organisers of Beccles Beer Festival have responded to demand to stage a spring event.

The Spring Beer Festival will be held at the regular venue of Beccles Public Hall from Friday, April 6 to Sunday, April 8.

It will again be a celebration of real ales, ciders and craft lager from 29 breweries in Suffolk and Norfolk, and the organisers hope to see a repeat of last November when a record 1,605 people visited the three-day festival, drinking more than 4,500 pints.

Organisers Graham Elliott and Beccles Lido Limited chief executive Shaun Crowley, said: “The autumn beer festival is arguably the biggest in the area and we are expecting that real ale enthusiasts will travel from all over East Anglia.

“It’s not just a celebration of local ales, but it’s held in Beccles Public Hall to raise funds for Beccles Lido Limited, which owns and runs the hall, the lido and Big Dog Ferry; and it’s run by hall and lido volunteers – so it also celebrates these fantastic community run Beccles attractions.”

As usual there will be live music with a strong local flavour, with the return of popular Beccles performers Tosh and The Moonlighers on the Friday night at 9pm, playing a mix of party favourites and their own songs. And on Saturday night, Solana - which includes two former pupils from Sir John Leman High School - will play as part of their UK tour, bringing their stomping selection of toe tapping tunes combining folk, klezmer, flamenco, jazz and Arabic influences.

Sunday will have a lower key vibe and families with well behaved children are welcome.

The Public Hall will also have a fully licensed bar selling wines, spirits and soft drinks for the non-ale drinkers, and there will be a selection of hot and cold snacks served by lido and hall volunteers.

The festival will open at 4pm on April 6, closing at 11pm that night. The doors will open again on April 7 from noon to 11pm and on April 8 from noon to 6pm.

And if you don’t drink them dry, off-license sales will be available from 5.30pm on the Sunday.

For more information, search for Beccles Beer Festival on Facebook or follow @becclesbeerfest on Twitter.