ORGANISERS of the popular Eastleigh Beer Festival are hunting for a new watering hole.

A question mark is hanging over the festival's future location because a £500,000 redevelopment plan is in the pipeline to bring the 1960s Nightingale Centre into the 21st century.

Centre chiefs want to boost its attraction as the social hub of the local community.

The 20th Eastleigh Beer Festival was staged over the weekend at the Nightingale Centre.

But a festival spokesman said: "There is a 50-50 chance of us being able to come back here next year because of the redevelopment plans and we are looking for other venues in the town."

Before switching to the Nightingale Avenue building, which is on the edge of the town, the beer festival was held for many years in the old town hall.

The South Hampshire branch of the Campaign for Real Ale, which organises the event, would like a more central Eastleigh location, preferably next to the railway station.

Meanwhile, for those who poured through the doors of the Nightingale Centre there was a chance to sample about 37 different real ales.

Organisers had reached further than ever in their nationwide search for unusual brews. Two beers from Britain's most northerly brewery, Valhalla in the Shetlands, were joined by beers from Orkney and the Irish Republic.

Samples from local breweries were also in full flow. The serious drinking was accompanied by music from Celtic folk band Heelstone and blues singer/songwriter Martin Osborn.