A pub landlord is laying down the pint-puller’s gauntlet in a challenge to stage the town’s best beer festival.

Phil Bagulay, landlord of the Hare and Hounds, Maidstone, says his beer festival on Saturday, August 16, will best the “official” Maidstone beer festival, to be staged by the Museum of Kent Life three weeks later.

Mr Bagulay said he wished the museum luck but questioned its right to call its event “Maidstone’s Official Beer Festival”.

In June The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) pulled out of the museum’s beer festival following a row over entrance prices, leaving the museum to stage the annual event on its own.

Mr Bagulay said: “They can sit there and say they are the official beer festival but I’m not so sure; I’m interested to know how official it is with CAMRA not in it.

“Why do they have the authority to use the term? If I did I could have the advertising standards agency on to me.”

The prospect of two festivals vying for supremacy will have beer fans rubbing their hands with glee; although challenging the Musuem of Kent Life’s event, on Saturday, September 6, is likely to prove a tall order.

The museum’s vast beer tent will offer a range of 90 ales, plus a selection of ciders, while visitors can also enjoy live bands and food, including their now-famous German sausages.

The Museum’s coal fired Oast House will also be in full production, completing the authentic beer experience.

Well, almost. For all its tradition, the museum lags behind the Hare and Hounds when it comes to offering one thing normally associated with beer – a pub.

Mr Bagulay said entrance to his event, dubbed Maidstone’s Annual Beer & Music Festival, would be free, although he would ask for donations toward the Kent Air Ambulance and The Gurkha Welfare Trust.

There will also be music from three live bands and a piper provided by the Gurkhas.

He said his festival would provide top quality – if slightly fewer – beers.

“At the moment we’ve definitely got 16 but we’ll probably have 20 ales on, and a couple of barrels of cider.

“We want 300 hundred people, but now we’ve got the beer garden we can hold a lot more.”

Maidstone Museum of Kent Life did not wish to comment on how its festival title was chosen, although a spokeswoman pointed out the event had been running at the site for more than 20 years.

Whether a genuine spat or a friendly rivalry, perhaps it’s simply worth bearing in mind the wise words of comedian Al Murray’s Pub Landlord – All Hail to the Ale!