A TEAM of brainy beer drinkers from west Suffolk have been crowned champions in the Greene King IPA East Anglian annual pub quiz.

The group of four real-ale lovers from the Cock & Bell in Long Melford beat off competition from teams across the region during the grand final in Bury St Edmunds on Thursday night.

As well as the coveted title they secured a first prize of �5,000, of which �2,500 was split between the team members Kevin Musk, Luke Bloxam, John Mitchell and Antony Lofting and �2,500 was won by the pub’s landlord, Jean Paul Fourie.

The competition to find East Anglia’s best pub quiz team involved 120 pubs which sell award-winning Greene King IPA.

They each held a tournament for customers and the best team went through to battle it out in the semi-finals in July.

The top 10 then went through to the grand final, held at Greene King’s brewery in Bury.

The final was hosted by TV actor and comedian Ted Robbins, who stars in Phoenix Nights and children’s show The Slammer, and Greene King head brewer John Bexon.

Each team had to answer 80 questions over eight rounds including general knowledge, movie clips and a picture quiz.

Keith Ironside, marketing manager for Greene King IPA, said: “Congratulations to the Cock & Bell quiz team.

“There was a great atmosphere at the grand final, which required a tie breaker to decide first place. The Greene King IPA East Anglian Pub Quiz has been really popular among pub landlords and their customers in the local community and we were delighted with its success.”