A RECORD number of people attended the Beer on the Wye festival in Hereford.

Back for its 13th year on the banks of the River Wye at the city's Rowing Club, the festival was opened by the mayor at 2pm on Friday and by the time it closed after the Family Fun Day at 5pm on the Sunday, 6,648 people had crossed the threshold.

In all, 24,400 pints of beer, cider and perry were consumed in just two and a half days- around 20 percent more than last year.

There were 135 cask beers; 42 world beers, and 142 draught ciders and perries (more than 100 from Herefordshire) on sale at the festival's three bars.

Mark Haslam, from organisers Herefordshire CAMRA, said: "The whole event was a tremendous success. Not only did it smash all the records, but once again it was nice to see how much people enjoyed themselves. "There wasn't a single security incident over the whole weekend. The laidback atmosphere of the festival is something we are proud of."

On Friday it was the official launch of Press2Pub, a new web-based CAMRA-sponsored initiative designed to get more local pubs to stock draught Herefordshire ciders and perries.

More than 130 CAMRA volunteers help make the festival happen.

Eight live bands featured over the weekend. Mark said a highlight on the Saturday night was the festival debut of musician, Neil Ivison, with his new band Stone Mountain Sinners, followed by the headline act, Shamus O'Blivion, who then took audience participation to a new level.

Champion Beer of the Festival was judged to be Redemption; a well-balanced, pale-coloured brew with a delightful citrus-dry aftertaste from Sheffield's Abberydale Brewery.

Judged Herefordshire Beer of the Year was Mocha Export Stout, a 6.6% strength coffee and chocolate milk stout brewed by Odyssey Brewery, who also own and run the Beer in Hand micro-pub in Hereford. The coffee beans used to brew the dark and luxuriant beer come from the city's King Street Kitchen café.

Springherne Blended Perry was judged West Midlands Perry of the Year at the festival. At 5.7% strength, the medium-dry blended perry is made by John Tyser from Ross-on-Wye.