THOUSANDS of drinkers experienced a taste of Munich, as Oktoberfest hit Swindon.

Revellers guzzled their way through an estimated 30,000 litres of beer in the two-day celebration of Germany’s most famous beer festival.

Swindon Cricket Club’s County Ground field disappeared beneath a 50-metre blue beer tent, which hosted 3,500 drinkers across Friday and Saturday.

An oompah band kept the crowds entertained, with Bavarian classics and covers of modern favourites. Impromptu conga lines swept the drinkers past long tables sticky with drink.

A bar, which stretched across the width of the beer tent, served ciders, wine and a selection of soft drinks.

But it was the beer that pulled in the punters, with two different lagers on offer from brewers ABK: Hell and Fels.

Stalls selling German sausages and sweet treats kept the crowds fed.

Organiser Elliot Davids said: “It’s been great for the first year. It’s been nice and fresh to bring something like this into Swindon.

“We looked at cities that haven’t had anything like this and Swindon looked like a nice place to bring it to.”

Meca and Coleview Community Centre have already hosted Oktoberfest events, but it is the first time the beer festival has come to the County Ground.

But Elliot hinted that the event could be back next year, “as long as people will have us”.

Event director Steve Hudson added that the event had been “genuinely brilliant”.

Dating back to 1810, Oktoberfest has its origins in a massive party thrown to celebrate a Bavarian royal marriage.

But the festival, which now runs over 16-18 days in September and October, has grown into an annual beer festival that takes over Munich.

An estimated six million people visit the city for Oktoberfest, with 7.5 million litres of beer drunk.

Sipping her litre “stein” of Hell beer on Saturday afternoon, funeral advisor Laura Little said she had come to the festival for a “get together with friends”.

Laura, 32, from Ferndale, said: “The atmosphere and the music has been really good. It’s something different.”

Roy Coles, 61, from Marlborough, plays tuba in Wiltshire-based oompah band KV Bavarian Brass.

“We go out and do Bavarian music nights,” said Roy, who was dressed in traditional lederhosen. “We thought we’d come along. It’s good fun.”

Dean Wiseman, 43 said he had abandoned his friends to drink with the oompah band. “I’ve had so much fun with these boys,” he said.

The Shrivenham man said that he'd previously worked in Germany and had visited the famous Munich Oktoberfest.

Dean said the Swindon festival compared favourably with the fortnight-long celebrations that take over Bavaria's largest city: “It’s a smaller scale, but the same result – everyone having a good time.”

John Hull, 33, from Old Town, said: "The band was really good and the general atmosphere inside the tent was great.

"They definitely have something to build on."