THE popular Paisley beer festival will this year be served up with a side order of food.

 

The 28th Paisley Beer Festival - run by the Renfrewshire branch of the Campaign for Real Ale - will be in Paisley Town Hall from Wednesday April 22 to Saturday April 25.

The event is Scotland's biggest real ale festival and each year attracts thousands from across the country to sample a wide selection of real beers, ales and ciders.

This year for the first time it will run alongside a one-day food festival organised by Renfrewshire Council on the Saturday only.

Both events are taking place as part of Scotland's Year of Food and Drink, supported by Event Scotland and Visit Scotland, which aims to showcase Scotland's outstanding natural larder and exceptional natural produce.

The food festival will be in Abbey Close between noon and 6pm and includes the Slug in a Bottle Market, food and craft workshops, live music from Loud 'n' Proud and kids' entertainment including TV's Mr Bloom.

The food festival also includes the usual twice-monthly Farmers' Market at Paisley Cross, where visitors will be able to take in live cookery demos.

For the first time, Renfrewshire Campaign for Real Ale have added a wine bar featuring speciality wines from across Scotland.

Renfrewshire's Provost Anne Hall said: "The Paisley Beer Festival is real home-brewed success story, and the volunteers of Renfrewshire CAMRA deserve great credit for building such a popular and well-established event here in the town.