YORK'S flagship beer and cider festival will be bigger than ever this year.

The event, run by the York branch of the Campaign for Real Ale, will be on Knavesmire from September 14 to 17. It will be on a different part of the ground to previous years, in the new course enclosure directly opposite the York Racecourse grandstand.

There will be more than 450 real ales, more than 100 ciders and perries, a foreign beer bar, live music and food stalls.

Several breweries will have their own bars, including York Brewery, Roosters, Brass Castle, Great Heck, Bad Seed, Rudgate, Bad Co and Brew York.

>>> FLASHBACK: 26 photos and a video from the first day of last year's festival

Festival Organiser Melissa Reed said: “We're all really excited about the move to the new site, which has given us the opportunity to re design our site layout and add more food traders. Now we need to get our thinking caps on to come up with some even more exciting festival special beers to brew and sample.”

Nick Love, festival communications manager, added: "We’ve been inundated with requests from all over the UK for the dates for this year’s festival from people who want to book accommodation, so after so much work getting every last detail right for the move to the new site, we’re delighted to be able to finally release the dates for this new chapter in our history.”

Mr Love said the new venue would enable Camra to offer the same marquee festival experience as before, but with much improved drainage to guard against flooding if it rains heavily, as has happened in some previous years. There will also be permanent toilets rather than only portable ones.

The festival will again host the regional SIBA awards, with more than 100 beers being assessed.

Details of online ticket sales will be announced over the coming weeks.