Claire and Warwick Lowe joined with The Masons Arms, in Whiting Street, earlier this year to give songwriters an outlet for their work.

But they never imagined between 50 to 70 people would attempt to pack into the pub for each of the four heats held in September.

The musical flare has also been so great that the judges agreed to put not just two but the top three from each heat through to the semi-finals.

The winners of the four heats were Sian Cook, Danielle and Doug, Hannah Vesty and Ady Johnson, but they will have to fight for their places in the final as Warwick described the competition as 'too close to call'.

Warwick said: "We are having such a fantastic response, it's getting bigger and bigger every time. The standards have been so high – the judges got so frustrated kicking out people that should have gone through to the final that they decided to include the third place winners as well.

"There's a lot of very talented people out there that just haven't had an outlet. There's a great atmosphere and the only problem is fitting everyone inside the Masons."

The majority of the 28 entries have travelled to the competition from within a 10-mile radius, but Warwick said they have also had people from Newmarket, Ipswich, London, Cambridge and Peterborough.

Interest in the competition has been so overwhelming that Claire and Warwick have already confirmed a second songwriters competition in the lead up to Bury Festival in April and May 2009.

Catch the first of the semi-finals on October 8, with Sian Cook, Louise Hamilton, Ady Johnson, Marco Cacchioli, Tom Menarry and Andy Carter.

Hannah Vesty, Danielle and Doug, Nick Lowe, Rob Crabb, George Linton and Ivan Wilson will then compete in the second semi-final on October 15, with the order of play being drawn out of a hat on the night.

The winner of the final, held on October 22, will win a professional recording of the winning song and the two runners up will receive £25 vouchers for Balaam's Music and Sounds Plus.

To find out more, visit www.myspace.com/masonsarmslivemicacousticnight or contact the organisers by email at musicnights@hotmail.com