Mr Thomas’ beer festival for St Ann’s Church

Mr Thomas' Chop House is hosting the Blessed Beer Real Ale Festival in St Ann's Square in support of the St Ann's Church Restoration Fund.

Each pint sold will raise 50p for the church roof fund. The event will take place from 11am to 11pm on Friday 14 September to Sunday 16 September.

A beer tent in St Ann's Square will house 24 cask real ales and four ciders. The beers chosen for the festival have been sourced from local micro-breweries. They include: Dunham Dark Mild, Milk Stout, Porter, East India Pale Ale, Wobbly Bob, Bank Top Blonde, Ginger Marble and Forever Bury.

St Ann's Church celebrated its 300th anniversary in July. However, in March 2009, a small piece of stone fell from the tower and uncovered some huge problems. Expensive repairs were required throughout the building. So far £700,000 has been spent on the restoration work which has included repairing the whole tower, the clock, and making the roof watertight. An additional £2m is needed to restore the whole church.

Rev Nigel Ashworth, Rector of St Ann's and a real ale fan, gave the go-ahead for Mr Thomas' to lend a hand to its iconic neighbour. He said: "St Ann's Church and quality real ales are both part of our heritage. The Blessed Beer Festival will be a great way to celebrate 300 years of St Ann's Church and St Ann's Square and help us restore the Church to its former glory."

Roger Ward, owner of Mr Thomas's, said: "The Church is a fantastic neighbour. It is part of Manchester's history and it's what makes our location special. This is the least we can do to help out. I hope it goes down well and that we can repeat the event to help finish the works."