A NORTH-EAST beer festival which begins this week will have a record number of beers to sample.

Organisers of the Darlington Beer Festival, the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), are promising 48 ales - plus cider and imported beer.

Ale is coming from a number of small regional breweries, including Hill Island, from Durham City, and Darwin, from Sunderland.

The festival runs from Thursday to Saturday, in Darlington Arts Centre as part of the week-long Spring Thing festival, which also offers folk music and dancing.

Brendan Boyle, from Darlington Camra, said: "Other years we have had problems with the flow of beer, and have been known to run out, but this time we have plenty of back-ups."

The beer festival is open on Thursday from 7pm to 11pm, on Friday from noon to 3pm and 6pm to 11.30pm, and on Saturday from 11.30am to 11.30pm. Admission to the beer hall is free at all times.