SKIPTON'S non-beer drinking mayor opened the town's first ale festival in two decades.

As she opened Skipton Beer Festival 2007, Mayor Carole Manley revealed she had never tasted beer and urged drinkers to "have one on me because I won't want it".

It is the town's first such event in around 25 years and it gave visitors the chance to sample more than 50 cask conditioned ales from local firms like Copper Dragon and Litton Brewery and ones from further afield.

Keighley and Craven CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) organised the festival.

Andy Grant, from Keighley and Craven CAMRA, said: "We were absolutely overwhelmed by the public response to the festival and the customer feedback was very positive.

"One thousand six hundred and sixty one customers attended on the Friday and Saturday, drinking more than 5,500 pints of 55 different real ales from around the UK, as well as smaller quantities of cider, perry and bottled German beers.

advertisement"They came from all over the United Kingdom and from as far afield as Berlin and Pennsylvania, USA, but there was also a good turnout of local people.

"By 4pm on the Saturday, the hall's fire limit had been reached and customers were queuing to be admitted on a one out-one in' basis.

Skipton's mayor Carole Manley and her acting consort Andrew Rankine open the beer festival "We sympathise with potential customers who were disappointed, but we hope that they took advantage of their visit to patronise some of Skipton's excellent real ale pubs.

"The festival passed off without any trouble and a friendly, convivial atmosphere prevailed throughout.

"If we are allowed to hold the event next year, lessons will be learned by the volunteer organisers and staff, but this was a first-time effort and we had no idea what the demand would be.

"It just goes to show that there is a strong demand for a good choice of high quality real ales in Skipton."

Customers voted "Woolly Jumper" - a 4.4 per cent ABV golden hoppy premium bitter from Elland Brewery - as Beer of the Festival, while second place went to "Goose Eye Chinook" from Keighley, and third place to "1872 Porter", also from Elland.

The collection for the mayor's Prostate Cancer charity raised just over £300.

A new, updated edition of "Dales Ale - Craven District", the definitive pocket guide to local real ale pubs, was launched at the festival and is available, priced at £2 from Skipton Tourist Information Centre and selected local pubs and bookshops