ALE lovers are gearing up for Colchester's summer beer festival.

The 31st Colchester CAMRA Real Ale and Cider Festival kicks off on Tuesday at Colchester Arts Centre, in Church Street.

This year's festival will celebrate the town's Roman heritage as the capital of Britain and St Helena Hospice has been selected as this year's festival charity.

Tony Smith, a festival spokesman, said: "We run two festivals each year and it is becoming increasingly popular.

"Some years ago, it was a very small thing, run by a small group of people in the CAMRA group.

"Now the group has about 1,400 members in total, so we've seen a real growth.

"It encourages people to try something different and something they perhaps wouldn't normally choose, and go back to their local pubs and speak to the landlords about what they could be getting in for people to try."

He added: "We have certainly noticed as the festival has got more popular over the years, more pubs in the town have been branching out into real ale, which I think is a good thing and there are definitely more people interested in real ale.

"As always, we will have a fine selection of real ales as well as the Belgian bar and ciders and perries, so there is something for everybody."

Accompanied children are also welcome every day until 6.30pm.

The event runs until Saturday, June 4 and it is open between 12pm and 11pm everyday.

Admission is free until 3pm Wednesday to Saturday and £3 thereafter.

CAMRA members enter free at any time.

There will be more than 150 real ales on tap as well as cloudy ciders and perries and food is available.

English wines will also be available alongside the Belgian bar.

There will also be free soft drinks to designated drivers.

Emma Dean will provide the soundtrack to the event on the opening night while Revolver will play live on Saturday night.