Madonna was just one of thousands of guests supping specialist ales at the Battersea Beer Festival on Wednesday.

As well as hundreds of belting beers - including the wonderfully named Ferocious Ferret - the event also showcased a selection of impressive beards and bellies.

Fun aside, the festival - now in its 18th year at the Battersea Arts Centre - is expected to welcome over 4,500 drinkers over three days, with 40 per cent of them attending the festival for the first time.

It was good news for Chris Cobbold, member of the Campaign for Real Ale and the festival's organiser.

He said: "The aim is to get people, especially youngsters to drink real beer and be aware of the choice of beer.

"On Wednesday we had 150 people queuing up to get in the doors. The average age of people before six-o-clock is 45 after it is 25.

"People come from Brighton, Stoke-on-Trent and even as far as Scotland."

With hire of the venue costing £10,000 and the beer another £20,000 Chris was relying on the army 400 volunteers to man the bar and make the money back.

The party atmosphere was in full swing late on Wednesday evening with students and pensioners alike quaffing beers, ciders and wines from all over the country. Soft drinks were free.

One sufficiently lubricated festival-goer, Ben Thompson, said: "It is my first time at the event and its been great. The setting is great, the prices are good and the beer tastes lovely. But I've had a few now and they are all beginning to taste the same."

It was not known what the queen of pop - who admits she enjoys Real Ale, particularly a pint of Landlord - thought of the beers when she visited on Wednesday.

She was long gone before the masses descended.