There's a strong West Country theme to the 2008 Medway Beer Festival - all the ales and most of the ciders will come from Cornwall, Devon, Dorset or Somerset.

And readers of the Medway Messenger can sample them, by making good use of the money-off entrance voucher in this Friday's print edition.

It is a major change in emphasis on the last two years when award winning cask conditioned ales have been featured.

Organiser John Brice explained: “If we had kept with the award-winning theme it would have meant a similar line-up to the beers we’ve had for the last two years.

“For that reason alone I felt it was time for a change. I wanted to get beers from the Lake District and the Scottish borders but it proved too difficult to organise.

‘So I looked at the West Country and found a superb collection of beers with a wide range of styles and strengths. I didn’t have to look any further.”

This will be the seventh annual Medway Beer Festival. The first two were organised by the Medway branch of CAMRA, the campaign for real ale.

They couldn’t find enough staff to keep it going so John Brice, the landlord of the King George V in Brompton, took it over to keep it going.

The three-day festival will be held at the Stanley Ballroom, Gundulph Road, Chatham, which is close to both Rochester and Chatham railway stations.

It opens at 4pm on Thursday, November 6, and runs from 11am until 11pm on the next two days, November 7 and November 8.

Entrance is £4 which includes a full colour pint glass to take home. However, Medway Messenger readers can save £1 by using the money-off voucher on Page 16 of this Friday's Medway Messenger