GEORGE and the Dragon, Humpty Dumpty and a Gremlin will all be making an appearance at King George's Hall this week.

It's not some sort of Easter pantomime -- they are all beers at Blackburn's Millennium Beer Festival, sponsored by the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

Between now and Saturday, the event is expected to attract thousands of people, eager to sample one of 130 traditional beers on offer.

The hop-lovers' festival has been organised by Blackburn with Darwen Council and the Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA) as one of the borough's major millennium festivals.

It is the first time since 1996 that the borough has hosted a beer festival, but the borough's millennium co-ordinator, Carl Hutton, is hoping it will not be the last.

He said: "We are already making plans for next year, and we are sure it will be a success. "This isn't just for fans of real ale. We are trying to aim it at anyone looking for a different night out.

"We have arranged for a lot of music acts, especially folk acts, to come along and play in the evening.

"It is a chance to try something different. It is certainly much bigger than any beer festival held in the town before."

Barry Tyson, of CAMRA, said: "With more and more of the bigger breweries abandoning cask ale, this is an ideal opportunity for people to try something different.

"The beers here come from all over the country, from national companies to the micro-brewers, including lots of local ones. A lot of the beer here has been brewed for love, not profit, and you can taste the difference. We are expecting people from all over the North West" The festival runs until Saturday providing locals on a long weekend with a chance to sample some Mother's Ruin, Milk of Amnesia or Loopy Juice -- and still have two days to recover!