Pubs in Hucknall are joining together to put on a mini beer festival later this month.

The Hucknall Beer Tap Festival will take place in the town on the usual weekend of The Hucknall Beer Festival which has been postponed until July.

A total of 12 establishments in the town will be serving cask ales from Thursday 10 February until Sunday 13 February inclusive.

The Station Hotel will have the biggest selection, serving 20 cask ales during the festival.

Lincoln Green Brewery, based on Wigwam Lane, which operates the pub, has also brewed a special beer to mark the event, with the help of the staff of The John Godber Centre.

The beer, called 'Portland', named after The Duke of Portland who bequeathed the land that the John Godber Centre and the church stands upon, is a 4.3% 'hoppy golden ale.'

For every pint sold, the brewery will donate 10p to the John Godber Centre to help support them to be able to run the beer festival in the summer.

Like many venues across the country, The Centre, which is on Ogle Street, was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown restrictions which, at first, prevented it from opening at all and then meant it couldn't host the range of groups and events that it would usually, resulting in a decrease in its usual levels of revenue.

The venue, which hosts Hucknall's annual beer festival, made the decision late last year that they would postpone until the summer citing 'too many' Covid-19 related 'uncertainties and risks at the current time to go ahead in the new year.'

Speaking exclusively to Hucknall Nub News, Anthony Hughes, the founder of Lincoln Green, said: "We have joined forces with the other pubs within Hucknall to put on a Hucknall Beer Tap Festival in its (Hucknall Beer Festival's) place. The February date has always been a really big draw for people coming into the town and visiting the pubs as well as the beer festival at The John Godber Centre.

"And so it made an awful lot of sense for us to continue to do something on the original date but at the same time raise money from activities in the pubs that would help the John Godber Centre to be able to pay for the beer when they rerun the actual beer festival in July.

"For every pint that's sold of Portland we'll be donating 10 pence from the brewery to The John Godber Centre and then we've also got other activities planned at The Station Hotel to raise money during the 10th-13th February; hopefully we should be able to raise some money for The John Godber Centre, so it takes some of the pain out of running the festival in July.

"I have to say we had a sample of it this morning and it was very very tasty."

Kim Pears, Manager of The John Godber Centre said: "We had a fabulous day at the brewery learning about brewing with Lincoln Green's head brewer Martin and can't wait to sample the beer we helped make.

"We're so humbled by the support from the community, the pubs and the brewery and though we're disappointed to not be holding the event as normal next week we're so pleased Hucknall will be the place to be for real ale enthusiasts still; we know the weekend is a date for the calendar for cask ale fans each year.

"Running a charity your income varies but Covid had a huge impact on us and we're fortunate to be a strong position for the future but it has involved some difficult and cautious decisions along the way, sadly including postponing the annual Hucknall Beer festival for a few months.

"We hate to disappoint anyone so we're so pleased that across the town there will be a range of choice and the pubs have come together for a Tap Festival.

"Hucknall has a great selection of pubs and we're privileged to get to see how they work together regularly, and on this occasion, to support our well loved community centre and promote their fantastic pubs.

"Many of the venues involved in the Tap Festival are regular beer festival sponsors and we greatly appreciate the financial and moral support. Any funds raised and gratefully received will help contribute towards the costs of the summer festival.

"It's our first summer festival, and post lockdown, so we are heading into the unknown but we are excited about the opportunities it will bring. We're looking forward to welcoming everyone in July and then back to normal February 2023."

For further information about The John Godber Centre, click here.