THIRSTY drinkers brought the Witney Beer Festival to an early end after drinking the barrels dry.

The Witney Round Table event at the town’s St Mary’s Church, in Church Green, was due to end at 10pm on Saturday but the 40 beers and ciders had all gone by 8.30pm.

Among those enjoying the event were Alice Morgan and Richard Morley.

Festival organiser James Mills said: “We had 850 glasses and ran out. We got another 150 from Wychwood Brewery, and those went.

"At the end we were having to give out plastic cups. It was a resounding success.”

A competition among seven Oxfordshire clergymen to produce the best home-brewed beer was won by the Rev Graham Sykes, chaplain to the Bishop of Oxford.