CHEERS! Put the date in your diary – a popular beer festival is to return to Southampton.

Organisers of Southampton Beer Festival have announced that the event will return to the city this year and will take place on June 8 and 9 at St Mary’s Stadium.

The festival has been a popular annual fixture in Southampton Guildhall’s calendar for the last 20 years.

And last year it moved to St Mary’s for the first time.

The event is organised by Southern Hampshire Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

Organisers said that more details about the range of beers and ciders available this year would be provided closer to the event.

But they have confirmed the festival will feature more than 90 local and national real ales and craft beers.

There will also be a range of ciders and perries, international bottled beers.

A wide range of food will also be available on the days.

That will include a range of curries, jacket potatoes, hog roasts, gourmet burgers, chunky chips and falafel burgers.

A spokesperson for CAMRA said: “As always, last year’s feedback has helped us to plan a festival with the customer in mind.

“Our ‘quiet’ session will be back on the Friday afternoon, with the other sessions featuring one band each, including the Travcats and the Johnson Van Dykes.”

CAMRA will also be working with local companies including Belgium and Blues, Dancing Man, Caskaway and Chesil Radio.

The event will be supporting Solent Skies as it has been chosen as Southampton Beer Festival’s charity.

Meanwhile, members of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, are invited to a meeting to take place at the at Locomotive Engineers Club in Eastleigh on March 3 at 2pm.

The meeting follows a eview of the organisation’s purpose and objectives which resulted in a number of recommendations to ensure that the 46-year-old organisation remains relevant.

All members will then have the opportunity to vote on whether the recommended changes are adopted as part of CAMRA’s AGM in April.