Beer time for thirsty Magpies

Chorley are teaming up with a local pub to stage a four-day beer festival.

The Evo-Stik Premier Division outfit will join forces with The Spinners Arms at Cowling for the inaugural Thirsty Magpie Beer Festival at Victory Park in July.

More than 80 real ales and ciders plus a number of local bands are being lined up to provide live entertainment for fans, the This Is Lancashire website is reporting.

Chorley manager Garry Flitcroft said: “This is the first time the club has staged a beer festival and it promises to be a great event.

"The lads at the Spinners have been working hard to source beers from breweries all over the north of England. We’ve also lined up a number of top bands from the area, who will play throughout the festival."

The event runs from Thursday July 12 to Sunday July 15. Tickets will be available shortly from Chorley FC and The Spinners at Cowling.

The accompanying picture from This Is Lancashire shows Chorley’s mascot Victor The Magpie enjoying a pint with the Spinners Arms’ Gen Hutchinson, left, and Seb Draper.

The Magpies have also launched a new discounted ticket in a bid to entice more fans to Victory Park for the coming campaign.

The Super 10 gives fans the opportunity to buy 10 adult match tickets for the reduced price of £80, or 10 concession tickets for £45.

Fans can then decide when to use the tickets, for example using it themselves for 10 games over the course of the season, taking a friend to five matches or a group of five can take in a couple of games.