SEVERAL thousands of pints were gulped down last weekend in what is fast becoming Grasmere’s answer to Glastonbury.

Tweedies Bar, at the Dale Lodge Hotel, played host to thousands of ale-lovers who drank the outside bar dry by Saturday and the inside pumps dry by Sunday at the annual three day Grasmere Guzzler.

“Normally it’s quite steady, but it was rammed and there was no space at all,” said Gillian Roberts, owner of Dale Lodge Hotel. Music, barbecues and 80 cask ales and ciders were on the menu at the eighth and busiest Guzzler to date.

A whopping 7,000 pints were drunk at the event, which Mrs Roberts said has grown ‘beyond recognition’.

“They had to resort to getting bottles from the cellar!” she said. “It was twice the size of last year and we’re all exhausted but looking forward to next year.”