THOUSANDS of people will descend on Pitchcroft Racecourse tonight for the city's beer festival.

The 18th Worcester Beer Festival sees a sell-out crowd of around 4,500 people visiting today, with over 11,000 expected over the weekend.

Around 420 barrels of beer and cider have been drafted in for the festival.

Festival organiser Steve Chase who has worked at the previous 17 festivals and organised the last five said: "So far everything seems to have gone very well, everyone seems to be enjoying themselves.

"We are expecting around 4,500 on Friday and had about 1,500 people yesterday.

"We have some quirky beers such as a raspberry wheat beer and a lemongrass beer, the quirky beers tend to sell out very quickly, there are plenty of drinks you won't be able to get in most places and there is a good mix between new drinks and old favourites."

The festival, which is organised by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) sees devoted volunteers travel from across the country to help.

Ken Davie, a bar manager, came all the way from North Yorkshire for the weekend said: "I have been to every single one.

"The festival has plenty of established CAMRA members and whilst the work I do is quite straight forward, not everyone can do it.

"I get a week off work to come here and I always really enjoy it.

"The trick is to try and have enough beer so that we do not run out, but not too much so we don't have a lot left at the end of the festival."

Around a third of the beers at the festival are made in the county.

David Compton, from Worcester, said: "I have come to the last three festivals.

"There is a very friendly atmosphere and you always get served quickly.

"I like to try the different drinks they have and they always have a number of new drinks."

Festival publicity officer Bill Ottaway said: "We were ahead of schedule setting up and it has gone very well so far.

"There were a few technical problems beyond our control in producing programmes for Thursday but that is all fixed now.

"There are still tickets available for tomorrow and people tend to come down on the day and buy them."