A COUPLE are preparing for a beer festival just weeks after taking charge at a pub.
Paul Sidey and partner Sheila Boustead took up the tenancy of the Woodman Inn, voted Durham's Pub of the Year for 2002 by real ale drinkers.
On learning that the Gilesgate pub hosts an annual beer festival, Mr Sidey was happy to oblige.
The result is the latest winter beer festival of the Durham branch of the real ale pressure group Camra, which begins today.
Thirty-one beers will be available over the next ten days.
The menu features a festival special by new Durham brewery Hill Island, Winter Warmer, a 5.1 per cent dark, tangy, seasonal beer, which can be sampled for the first time at the festival.
Others include Headmaster's Christmas Sermon, from the Mordue Brewery, at Wallsend, Dorothy Goodbody's Winter Tipple, from the Wye Brewery, plus Salamander Mud Puppy, Rudgate Crimble Ale, Bridge of Allan Turkey Stuffing, and Phoenix Christmas Kiss.
Mr Sidey said: "The local Camra people wanted to offer a selection of seasonal offerings that many locals have never previously tried."
The festival runs from 11am to 11pm, until December 10.
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