A RIBBLE Valley village is set to host its first beer festival this weekend thanks to two brothers who run rival pubs.

The inaugural Waddington Oktoberfest will be staged from Friday to Sunday in the village’s two pubs, The Lower Buck in Edisford Road and the Waddington Arms in Clitheroe Road.

Throughout the weekend there will be up to 30 feature beers to taste including those from Bowland Brewery, Thwaites, Spitting Feathers, Lytham and Kirkby Lonsdale.

The festival begins at 7pm on Friday with live music from Ceilidh Band ‘Union Street’ performing at The Lower Buck from 8pm.

Sunday will see acoustic Duo ‘Slatts and Zanders’ take to the stage from 4pm to 6pm.

The event comes just weeks after local businessmen James and Andrew Warburton took over the Bowland Brewery.

James already runs The Waddington Arms and Andrew has been the owner and manager of The Lower Buck for the past seven years.

Heidi Kettle, from The Lower Buck, said: “The pubs have been in talks with the local residents about this and it has been pulled together relatively quickly.

“We are confident that it will be a success and the reaction that we have had so far to it has been really positive.

“It comes a little later than the original German event but we are hoping to make it an annual attraction.

“We thought that we would bring the pubs together and have a bit of a party.”

Coun Bridget Hilton, who represents the village in the borough council, said: “It sounds like a very good idea and I’m sure that it will bring in a lot of tourists to the village. I think that it will be a positive event for Waddington to stage.

“As long as people respect the drinking regulations then I don’t foresee any problems.

“I’m sure at the end of the event a review will be carried out and a decision on future years will be taken.”