The sixth Southampton Beer Festival will give football followers the chance to celebrate England's victory over Brazil in style. The festival, which starts today, Thursday, will open at 11.30 am on Friday following the England v Brazil match earlier in the morning.

A feature of this year's festival is a selection of more than 20 beers from Yorkshire which will transform the stage area into a different sort of "Yorkie Bar". The best of local beers will also be among the total of more than 80 real ales on offer. Beers from all Hampshire breweries will be on sale, including the winner of the Champion Beer of Hampshire competition, which will be judged on the Thursday evening.

Festival organiser Rob Whatley said, "We hope all our customers will be in party mood at Friday's lunchtime session, which has free admission. Many people will have taken the day off work so we hope to see a bumper attendance. And in the unlikely event that England fail to get through, what better way to lift the spirits than to sample some of the finest beers brewed in England. All the beers will be kept in perfect condition by the extensive cooling system constructed by the festival's experienced bar managers."

Southampton Beer Festival is organised by the South Hants branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale. It takes place on Thursday to Saturday, 20 to 22 June. For ticket details contact Ian on 023 8077 8906, tickets@shantscamra.org.uk or visit www.shantscamra.org.uk.