WITH tasty beverages with weird names on offer, the third Hatch Warren Cider Festival was hailed as a success by its organisers.

More than 140 people in attendance throughout the night on May 6, the event saw some familiar faces to the Hatch Warren Community Centre, in Long Cross Lane, and some not so familiar.

Even though the cider was the star of the night, there was a lot more on offer for guests, from beers to street food and live music provided by Molly’s Jam there was something for everything.

Guests went around tasting the different drinks on offer and with their taste cards many were giving the different varieties of cider a mark out of 10.

Some people event challenged themselves to sample all 26 different types.

Event organiser Julia Veall said: “We pride ourselves on making our festival feel a little bit different and community based compared to some of the larger beer and cider festivals.

“This year I think we have 60 per cent of the people who came saying they had never been to an event at the community centre, so hopefully this will make them want to come back and try out some of the other events we run here.”

Julia said as each year has gone on the event has learnt what its clientele want, and by adapting to that it has made each year a success.

She added: “When I started this I would just bring in traditional ciders, but each year we found that more people were going for the fruity and unique flavours.

“The first cider we ran out of was blackberry, so it just shows people want a fruity twist on a traditional classic.”

All the money raised from the cider festival will go back into the community centre and help the volunteers there continue to deliver the services it does for the people of Hatch Warren.

To find out more about the community centre visit hatchwarren.org.