It’s time to break out the lederhosen and listen to the oompah band as the annual German beer festival comes to Finsbury.

The Oktoberfest 2012 begins at the Bavarian Beerhouse, in City Road, tonight and carries on for five raucous weeks.

During last year’s festival, the venue served an incredible 264,000 pints of beer, 40,000 sausages and around 900 kilogrammes of sauerkraut.

Guests can expect more of the same, with tuetonically-clad waiters and waitresses, traditional bands flown over specially from Germany and plenty of steins of beer.

Christen Ender from the Beerhouse, said: “This will be our ninth year of London Oktoberfest.

“Since we started in 2004 we’ve welcomed over 120,000 guests to our mix of imported German and Bavarian beers, hearty food and original Bavarian entertainment.

“Apart from Munich’s own celebrations, I have to say that our London’s Oktoberfest is the best in the world!”