The Great Yarmouth Beer and Cider Festival returns to St George’s Theatre this week.

When the festival opens for its first session at 5pm on Thursday more than 50 real ales and ciders will be available, many of them award winning brews selected from a host of brewers based in Norfolk and Suffolk.

There will be more 35 different ales with a good choice across the range and styles of beer, sourced from the region’s top brewers including Adnams, Woodfordes, Panther, St Peters, Wildcraft, Redwell, Winters, Boudica, Ampersand and Great Yarmouth’s own Lacons and Tombstone breweries.

For cider drinkers there will be plenty of choice too with a range of traditional and vintage fare including Sheppy’s Farmhouse and Farmer Jim’s Rootin Tootin Cider plus a range of fruity variants including rhubarb, peach, mango, strawberry and lime and some returning Festival favourites including Thundering Molly, Happy Daze and from Tombstone Brewery Snake Oil and Tumbleweed.

All the beers and ciders are selected by Beer Sommelier Day Harvey.

He said: “There are such a fantastic number of breweries in East Anglia these days that the choice available means I just didn’t need to look any further to ensure we have a great selection of beers at this year’s festival.”

He will be on hand during the festival to discuss the selections and ensure that the beers are kept at their optimum over the weekend.

With the World Cup in full swing festival goers will be able to keep up with the football action on the theatre’s massive 6m x 4m screen which will show all the live games being screened during the festival including England’s second group match against Panama at 1pm on Sunday afternoon.

Following the live football there will be live music on the Friday and Saturday evenings with eight-piece skiffle bluegrass Americana band The Lovin’ Handful headlining Friday night and The Misfit Collective, who performed at last year’s festival, return for the Saturday night. There will also be food and snacks available in the pavilion building next door along with a selection of alternative refreshments and, weather permitting, tables and chairs for festival goers to enjoy their food and beer outside.

The festival will be open from 5pm to 10.30pm on Thursday and from 12pm to 10.30pm on both Friday and Saturday. It finishes with a lunch time session, 12pm to 4pm, on Sunday when the live England World Cup match against Panama will be shown on the theatre’s big screen.

Tickets will be available on the door for all sessions with prices varying from £3 to £5 depending on the session attended. More information on the Great Yarmouth Beer and Cider Festival can be found on the Town Centre Partnerships website www.gytcp.co.uk