Nantwich Food Festival 2026 is almost here!

The award-winning Nantwich Food Festival is just round the corner, set within the centre of this historic town to delight us all.

The Festival returns from Friday 4^th to Sunday 6^th September and is even more jam-packed than usual with high quality exhibitors, great food and drink and masses of entertainment. Town centre businesses tell us they look forward to welcoming new and returning customers over the weekend.

Festival Friday starts at 11am with the usual quiet hour for those who want or need to browse the stalls in both marquees without the crowds. Then Friday continues from 12MD to 8pm with food, drinks, live music and lots of entertainment. Town centre entertainment starts at 11am with the first of 2 days of family activities by the Circus Academy, and runs until 8pm with even more entertainment, whilst the Reaseheath Food Theatre has chef demonstrations from 12md and these continue through the weekend.

200 exhibitors from near and far will fill both food courts and the market-style town centre.

High quality live music starts at 12MD at Love Lane and at 12.30 at the Bowling Green end of town.

Festival Saturday runs from 9am - 7pm, so expect more Festival fabulousness with great exhibitors, celebrity, TV and local chefs, town centre entertainment and wonderful live music; Festival Sunday is 10am - 5pm, with even more live music and entertainment to suit all ages. The earlier closing time is needed to enable the Festival team and any helpers to start the massive clear up task to return the beautiful historic town centre to its normal clean and well-ordered state.

Some town centre car parks need to close to allow space for marquees and necessary equipment and safety features to be erected and all the exhibitors to set up their stalls. Signs have been up for weeks, giving ample notice of these closures that run from 6pm Tuesday 1st September to 9am 7th September – yes, within much less than 24 hours of the Festival finishing, these car parks will again be available for use.

Due to the reduced availability of town centre parking, Festival organisers are urging visitors to use public transport; with the bus and train stations dropping visitors mere minutes stroll from the major Festival sites, this is a great option.

Even more so this year as there is FREE BUS TRAVEL! within the Nantwich boundary on Festival Friday and Saturday thanks to UK government funding and Cheshire East/NantwichTown Council co-ordination.

The well-established Festival Park & Ride scheme operates from Brine Leas Academy on Saturday and Sunday, plus Barony Park and Nantwich Football Club on all Festival days starting at 10.45am Friday. These buses drop visitors close to the main Festival sites: Brine Leas buses drop at Love Lane area, Barony Park at the Bus Station and the Football Club buses at Studio Nightclub, near the town square.

Providing the Park & Ride scheme makes travel into the town centre environmentally healthier and less fraught for everyone – with no searching for elusive parking spots. A recommended donation of just £3 per vehicle makes for inexpensive parking and helps to support this important facility and local charities.

Disabled parking, with disabled access buses, will operate from the Barony Park & Ride location only, plus there will be disabled parking at Dysart Buildings Car park too.

Turning now to the all important public loos! In addition to the Festival loos adjacent to marquees, there are public loos next to the market which will be open throughout all Festival hours and days, with any short closure just for cleaning. Loos at Snow Hill car park will be open 8.30am to 4.30pm on all Festival days.

Volunteers will be easy to see in their brand new high viz tabards; they’re the people to approach for Festival brochures, information and directions to anywhere and anything in Nantwich. They attended their training event just days before the Festival kicks off, so are up to date on safety issues, and will be ready to deal with any queries. Right in the town square there will also be a Festival Office/ Information Point.

All the Festival team members are volunteers; whether they volunteer for just a couple of hours or work on major projects throughout the year. They will be at the Nantwich Farmer’s Market on 29^th August to give you your Festival brochure containing all events and map, and to answer all of your Festival queries.

After all, Nantwich Food Festival is all about the local community. The team is grateful to the local organisations that support the Festival in all manner of ways, be that helping with car parking, allowing the use of St Mary’s Church grassed area or helping with the clear-up work following the Festival.

Safety is always high on the agenda for Nantwich Food Festival, so to complement the Festival Volunteers, there are the Health and Safety team, the First Aiders and the wonderful, ever-present local police. Two First Aid areas within the town centre will enable them to respond quickly to any incidents.

Simon Walter of Rhino Safety ensures that all safety systems are in place and closely monitors events throughout the weekend eg ensuring that marquees don’t become overcrowded. He doesn't approve the Festival to open until all safety and hygiene inspections are satisfactory on Festival Friday morning.

Child Safety is very important to the Festival organisers, who have a well-honed procedure for lost children and understand just how stressful it can be if children are lost even for just a moment. Free wristbands will again be available for your use, so that any lost children or vulnerable adults can be reunited quickly with their parents/guardians. The wristbands are available from Park & Ride buses, marquees and the Festival Info Point in the town square.

At the Love Lane end of the town, the Festival cannot forget its younger visitors, so is pleased to report that as usual Whitegates Kids’ Marquee (Kids Corner) will host a whole variety of activities.

As always the children’s activities supervised by Festival Volunteers will include lots of crafty, fun stuff to keep the younger festival goers busy and creative.

Activities will be free, but the Volunteers will be pleased to collect monetary donations to go to the Nantwich Foodbank.

The free Dabber Bear Town Trail leaflets can be collected from now onwards via The Cheese Shop, Hospital St.

Over the Festival weekend, leaflets can also be found at the Kids’ Marquee and the information point in the town centre. Trail prizes have been provided by the participating businesses, making this a good way of seeing more of the town while being in with a chance of winning a prize! 

Locals and visitors can vote for their favourite decorated Shop/Business Window Display; just collect your voting form from The Cheese Shop, Hospital St from now onwards; over the Festival weekend, forms can also be collected from the Kids Marquee and Town Centre Info Point.