Bolton Food & Drink Festival
Sarah Catherine Jones
Bolton Food & Drink Festival is back with a swagger. After it was named Greater Manchester’s Town of Culture 2024, Bolton is celebrating in style with a packed programme of free and ticketed activities that can be enjoyed by adults and kids alike.
Now in its 19th year, this award-winning festival is the biggest of its kind in the UK (it attracted over half a million people last year alone). It takes over the streets surrounding the town hall from Friday 23rd to Monday 26th August across the Bank Holiday weekend, and promises global cuisine from a whopping 200 vendors.
This year’s theme is ‘Let’s Grow’ – a focus on fresh produce, cooking from scratch, and encouraging communities to exercise their tastebuds. There’s a wealth of artisan food stalls, street food, pop-ups, and regional chef demos to choose from, so there’s enough to satisfy even the pickiest of eaters.
If you’re looking to get acquainted with celebrity chef heavyweights, you have fan favourites James Martin and Ainsley Harriot to choose from, who are returning to the Albert Hall for their in-demand cooking demos. Fans will need to pay for these sessions (check the link below for more details), but you’ll have the option to join Ainsley for food if you fancy.
To take you through your choices; brunch will consist of tasty buttermilk pancakes with rum-infused maple syrup alongside a banana, hazelnut and honey smoothie. Lunch offers a Jamaican twist on a local delicacy: Carrs jerk chicken pasty barm. And if you have the stamina, you can opt for the afternoon Rum Fiesta, which gives you a chance to taste a myriad of rums from around the world. You’ll also get to enjoy a rum cake with crème fraiche as you soak up your newfound knowledge.
But it’s not just about the food. Festival goers can look forward to plenty of live music and bars, street entertainment and special events, including comedy dining experiences from the likes of Faulty Towers and Sheer Luck Holmes. There are also plenty for the little ones to get stuck into too; think family discos, crafts and performances, which are all Jungle Book-themed.
Bolton Council’s Executive Cabinet Member for Culture, Cllr Nadeem Ayub, says: “Nobody throws a party like Bolton, and our annual Food and Drink Festival is the biggest party of the summer. If you have never joined us for the Food and Drink Festival before, then this is the perfect time to visit”.
With so much on offer, this year’s festival is shaping up to be its best yet. All we need now is the sun to do its thing.
