A POPULAR sausage festival will return despite a devastating fire at one of the town's historic pubs.
The Hanover Inn is usually a feature of the Harwich Sausage Festival but was severely damaged by fire.
Organisers of the event, which takes place on November 5, said the loss of the Church Street pub has come as a shock and means that for the first time the host pubs have altered.
The Alma Inn and the New Bell Inn will be taking part as usual and the organisers are grateful to the Stingray which will be the third pub hosting the sausage tasting.
Richard Oxborrow, one of the organisers, said: "It's incredibly sad to be having to hold the sausage festival without the Hanover but we are fortunate to have such a great real ale pub as the Stingray to take its place.
"The combination of quality real ale and great sausages will remain in tact for this year's festival."
The other change brought about by the fire is that the sausage throwing competition which precedes the sausage tasting will be taking place on Harwich Green instead of its regular site between the Hanover and St Nicholas Church.
"When we had to run the sausage festival virtually because of the pandemic we insisted that 'nothing stops a sausage' and the same can be said following this terrible fire," added Richard.
"This year's Harwich Sausage Festival will look a little different but it will still combine real ale, sausages and a lot of fun. That is never going to alter."
The historic Hanover Inn was destroyed by a massive fire in June.
The blaze, which resulted in two families being made homeless, saw 11 fire crews and two aerial ladder platform teams rush to the scene.
Church Street was closed during the incident and power to 177 homes in the area was also cut due to safety concerns.
The inferno took roughly six hours to extinguish, although crews remained at the site for several days to ensure the safety of the structure to prevent additional fires.
Essex County Fire and Rescue Service said that because the fire was so intense it has been impossible to determine the cause of the blaze.
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