THERE were record crowds at Hawkshead Brewery’s seventh Spring Beer Festival in Staveley at the weekend.

More than 100 casks and 25 kegs of beer – amounting to 8,000 pints – were sold from Friday to Sunday at a rate of four-and-a-half pints a minute.

“People came from all over the North West, but also further afield,” explained Gemma Greenbank of Hawkshead.

“After seven years of putting on these spring and summer beer festivals, they have a reputation that has put the Lakes on the map for beer lovers. They know what they’ll get – an exhibition of the most exciting breweries of the moment.”