CityCo has helped to coordinate a special beer festival in aid of St Ann’s Church Restoration Fund.

The Blessed Beer Real Ale Festival in St Ann’s Square will see each pint sold raise fifty pence for the church roof fund. The event will take place from 11am to 11pm on Friday 14th September to Sunday 16th September – or until the beers run out.

A beer tent in St Ann’s Square will house twenty-four cask real ales and four ciders. The beers chosen for the festival have been sourced from local micro-breweries. They include: Dunham Dark Mild, Milk Stout, Porter, East India Pale Ale, Wobbly Bob, Bank Top Blonde, Ginger Marble and Forever Bury.

St Ann’s Church celebrated its three hundredth anniversary in July this year. In March 2009, a small piece of stone fell from the tower. This small event uncovered some huge problems. Expensive repairs were required throughout the building. So far £700,000 has been spent on the restoration work which has included repairing the whole tower, the clock, and making the roof water tight. However, an additional £2 million is needed to restore the whole Church.

A fan of real ale, the Reverend Nigel Ashworth, Rector of St Ann’s gave the go-ahead for Mr Thomas’ to lend a hand to its iconic neighbour. The Reverend Nigel said, ‘St Ann’s Church and quality real ales are both part of our heritage. The Blessed Beer Festival will be a great way to celebrate three hundred years of St Ann’s Church and St Ann’s Square and help us restore the Church to its former glory!’

Roger Ward, the owner of Mr Thomas’s, said, “The Church is a fantastic neighbour. It is part of Manchester’s history and it’s what makes our location special. This is the least we can do to help out. I hope it goes down well and that we can repeat the event to help finish the works.”