Newbury Real Ale Festival - a blast from the past as we trawl through our archives and take a look at the past 20 years of the Northcroft Park-based event

As the Newbury Real Ale Festival (NRAF) prepares to celebrate its 20th birthday, we take a look back at the years gone by, writes Dan Colquhoun.

The town’s famous real ale festival returns once again on Saturday (September 14) and this year it is celebrating two decades since the first event took place.

We’ve taken a look through our archives and pulled out some of the thousands of photos we’ve collected over those 20 years.

Keep scrolling down to see if we captured you having fun at the festival.

Every year, thousands of people from near and far come together to get a taste of the area's finest beers, lagers, and ciders.

Over the years, several different bands and singers have performed and provided entertainment at the event held at the Northcroft fields and this year will be no different.

Last year saw Killer Queen and Brightside killers, Queen and the Killers tribute acts, put on an incredible show.

The past two decades have seen several high-quality acts and tribute bands perform like Green Date (Green Day tribute) in 2013 and probably the best act of all so far, Toploader (the real one) in 2019.

This year, Faux Fighters (Foo Fighters tribute) will be the headline act and they have promised to serve up an electric atmosphere, alongside several other musical performances throughout the day.

The day itself will kick off at noon and ‘last orders’ will be called following the end of the final musical performance of the night, giving everyone plenty of time to make the most of the range of alcohol and food available at the event.

Each year the long outdoor bar is run by volunteers from Newbury & Thatcham Hockey Club, who ensure that the beers keep flowing.

To find out about tickets, drinks, music, and all things Real Ale Festival then head to their website for more information: https://www.newburyrealale.co.uk/home

The festival raises money for charity and this year, alongside long-standing partner Sport in Mind, the money raised this year will go towards the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance.