ALE drinkers in Shrivenham gave their tastebuds a work out at the Barrington Arms Beer Festival over the Bank Holiday Weekend.

The local pub had eleven ales on offer, as well a live bands playing throughout the day and into the night, including Abstraction Engine, Locarno Beat, Andy Robbins, and Tom Dalby.

There was also a barbecue on the Saturday and a raffle with boozy prizes to raise money for Shrivenham Cof E Primary School.

Donna Griffths, who started as manager at the Barrington Arms last year, told the Adver on the day: “It was quite quiet to start, I was panicking a bit, but it’s all fallen into place, there’s a good turnout this afternoon. We’ve got eight ales that we’ve brought in specially.

“Most of the ales were local, all the breweries have been really good. It’s Ramsbury brewery who have organised most of the beers for me, so they’ve been amazing.

“I took over in October and I’ve been trying to build the business back up. So I thought this was a good opportunity to get people who wouldn’t normally come here to visit.

Ian Winfield, the local CAMRA chairman for the White Horse branch, was impressed with range of ales on offer at the village pub.

“What I’d say is Donna’s got a fabulous choice of ales, several of which have never been seen in Shrivenham before.

"There’s a really nice beer from Milestone, which is the RAF beer, so that's quite connected to the RAF 100 years going on this year.

“The battle for real ale has been won, but its more about making sure pubs don’t close. "Although the real ale selection is fabulous across the whole country, and there’s more breweries now then there was a hundred years ago, which is brilliant, but pubs are still closing quite often.

“There’s still pubs closing at two a week across the whole country.

“In the Vale we’ve just had another pub close this year. So its very important that pubs stay open so we can sell real ale."

Ale connoisseur Norman, 70, from Shrivenham, told the Adver: “I've tried all the ones on the top shelves, all the strong ones, I'll skip all the bottom row, which says something about me.

"I’ve been drinking Corndolly. I like something with a bit of flavour, a bit of hops, somethings that's full bodied, and a bit of aftertaste. I know what I like and what I don’t like.

“I will avoid an Arkells or a Green king pub, they won’t even allow a guest beer on.”