BEER brewing is a growing pastime in Herefordshire and some 13 breweries are now operating in the county.

The recent addition of KelPaul Brewery in Wellington jointly run and owned by Paul Stevens means that two of these are owned by Herefordshire councillors.

Hereford Mayor Jim Kenyon owns and runs the other as a councillor-cum-brewer at The Victory.

Mark Haslam, from the Herefordshire Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), said: "The brewing and beer scene in the county is getting better by the day, and this reflects what is happening across the UK as a whole.

"Our national drink, beer, seems to be in rude good health. It's also good to see so many pubs opening. Not just old ones re-opening, but entirely new venues are opening."

Considered to be the pub-goers' bible, the CAMRA Good Beer Guide, has 1,032 pages listing 4,500 great pubs to visit around the UK, including 26 in Herefordshire.

All of them have been chosen independently by CAMRA's 180,000 volunteer members over the last 12 months.

This year there are two new breweries listed for Herefordshire: Swan Brewery in Leominster and KelPaul Brewery, who have just moved to new brewery premises in Wellington.

It has been a good few weeks for beer drinkers in the county as both the Slip Tavern at Much Marcle and the Pennyfarthing at Aston Crews have re-opened.

Ledbury has also gained it's first micro-pub, the Lion on the town's Bye Street - and Gordon Bennetts which has opened in Hereford's St Peters Street.