The Great Central Railway‘s Beer Festival returns for 2023 this weekend (7th to 10th September) and will see the popular event taking place across five of its sites.

The event sees a massive array of beers and ciders with over 100 to choose from and served both onboard trains and at the heritage railways stations. To find out more about the huge range of beers and ciders, including the breweries and descriptions, please click here.

The event will take place at the following locations:

Loughborough Central Station:

30 beers plus an array of ciders in a marquee at the north end of Loughborough Station platform. Opening times are as follows:

• Thursday: 12:00-22:00,
• Friday and Saturday 11:00-23:00
• Sunday 11:00-17:00

Quorn & Woodhouse Station:

30-35 beers, plus ciders, soft drinks and lagers at the Tin Shed.

The station will also have live music on Friday with Déjà vu playing from 8pm until late and Saturday with Sarah Clarke from 1pm to 3.30pm followed by The Fentones from 4pm to 6.30pm and Dr Busker from 7.30pm to 11pm.

Opening times are as follows:

• Thursday: 12:00-22:00
• Friday and Saturday: 11:00-23:00
• Sunday: 11:00-17:00

Rothley Station:

Will host a minimum of 6 beers and a selection of ciders at a Wagon in the Carriage and Wagon Shed. Opening times are as follows:

• Thursday: CLOSED
• Friday and Saturday: 11:00-22:00
• Sunday: 11:00-17:00

Leicester North Station:

Will host 4 beers and 2 ciders at the ticket office. Opening times are as follows:

• Thursday: CLOSED
• Friday and Saturday: 11:00-22:00
• Sunday: 11:00-17:00

On-board trains:

Trains on the timetable marked with ‘A’ will also offer a choice of beers and ciders as part of the festival.

Please note that no trains will run on Thursday the 7th of September, with just Loughborough and Quorn & Woodhouse Station open as part of the event. Festival goers will be able to make use of a FREE ‘Heritage Bus’ service which will operate between Loughborough East Midlands Railway Station, Loughborough Central and Quorn & Woodhouse Station, to find out more about this service, please click here.

Train services will be operating for both Friday the 8th and Saturday the 9th of September, with normal fares in operation. Special evening services will also be running and will feature a £10 fare from 17.30 onwards.

Sunday the 10th of September will see trains running as usual and once again normal fares will be operating.