A SANDIWAY brewery has become the lead beer supplier for The Charlatans homecoming festival.

Sandiway Ales, formed by father and son Mike and Paul Hill, have teamed up with The Charlatans to bring a new beer to the festival, CW NINE.

Mike Hill,61, spoke to The Guardian about the announcements, he said: “We found out probably about six weeks ago, a friend of the band contacted us to see if we were interested, they wanted a Northwich brewery.

“Martin, the bass player, came up to see us and he had a bit of input as to what beer he wanted us to make, we’re going to do our best to re-create his ideas.

“It’s going to be a blonde ale, four per cent, they’re providing the label and we’re making the beer. We’ll be selling by casks and by the bottle.”

The festival promises to be an extremely exciting time for Northwich, and a very busy one for Sandiway Ales who will supplying CW NINE at the record fair and any pubs interested.

“We’ll be selling casks to all pubs that are interested and we think most in the area will want at least one. We’ll be selling at the record fair bar and bottles will be available there as well.”

The event is talk of the town at the moment and Mike and his son Paul are excited for what the festival will bring.

He said: “It’s fantastic isn’t it, my son is absolutely thrilled, he’ll be making the beer of course, we’re going to make sure it’s a good one. It’s a big deal for us, you really can’t buy that kind of publicity.

“It’s a great event for the whole town, it’s creating a lot of interest already. A band like that playing their hometown it’s like The Beatles going back to Liverpool.”

The homecoming festival for The Charlatans takes place from May 10 to May 20 and features a great variety of entertainment for anyone in attendance.