Nantwich Food Festival was a great success!

Despite the poorer than usual weather, the crowds arrived with high expectations and so Nantwich was again a celebrated centre for great food and drinks.

Just weeks after Nantwich Food Festival won a major Cheshire Life Food and Drink Award, the festival was again a popular fixture in the Cheshire calendar.

Many exhibitors sold out of their produce and needed to re-stock well before the end of Festival Saturday, so clearly the weather didn’t deter festival goers.

Thousands of happy visitors, over 200 tired exhibitors and a town of hardworking businesses were kept busy, so this all means that Nantwich had another successful Food Festival. Festival-goers arrived from near and far to have a great time.

The two huge food courts plus the town centre market-style zone were, as usual very popular, selling a wide range of food, drinks and gifts. All the usual favourites were in evidence plus a record 30+ new exhibitors; over 20 loyal local exhibitors were there too.

Festival Chairwoman, Christine Farrall, in her speech to the dignitaries at the official opening ceremony, paid tribute to the unsung heroes – the Organising Team members who work throughout the year to ensure that everything is in place to create a wonderful festival for all.

As with the weekend volunteers, all of these locals do this work on a totally voluntary basis.

She also thanked the local scouts and air cadets for their much-valued work in helping set up and close down the huge amount of equipment; the support received from local Rotaries with issues including the Park & Ride system was highlighted as another example of collaborative working across volunteer organisations.

So what took place over the weekend?

Karen Young, Chef Organiser says:

“The Reaseheath Food Theatre was busy all weekend with celebrity chefs, Phil Vickery and Nigel Brown plus all the talented TV and local chefs demonstrating their skills.

We were treated to demos with scrumptious recipes from fruit roulade to curry, giant prawns to tagine, then there were delicious looking salads, rice, flatbreads, pitta breads, chicken kebabs and also apple crumble – with Snugbury’s ice cream of course! Plus there was so much more to see and learn from the talented chefs.

Lots of interest in how to prep and present oysters (in case you want to know, on crushed ice/rocket/seaweed – or as the Seafood Shack does – on washed & sterilised pebbles). Many of the demos were accompanied by sign language interpretation in a continuing Festival initiative designed to improve inclusivity. There was standing room only for many of the chef demonstrations.

Festival Director, Nanna Pedley organised the popular Cookalong theatre; here participants worked under the instruction of trained chefs to produce a meal, so it was great to see almost all places booked up well in advance of the festival start.

The spaghetti carbonara Cookalong session for kids was hugely in-demand with lots of happy young chefs working with Romazzino’s Peppe. Plus there was a great appetite for the session by St Martha’s Head Chef, Spyros, on how to create Soutzoukakia. Le Gruyere, the Cookalong sponsor, ran not just one, but three very different, well-received free master-classes over the weekend.

Babna’s Velvet Noir cake cookalong was really popular, made – believe it or not – using oreo biscuits!

The Whitegates Kids Marquee was a huge success; organiser and marquee manager, Laura thanks her team of volunteers saying “We were kept busy all weekend helping the children with making butterflies and flowers from coffee filters, mini pancakes, pasta mosaics, sun-catchers plus of course decorating all those gingerbread men; as usual the Mr Dabber Bear town trail was popular”

Other Festival entertainment was a treat for all, with fantastic brass bands, choirs, stilt walkers, Punch and Judy and street entertainment.

The Town Food History Walking Tours that started in 2024 were even more popular this year, with all 75 places sold out before the Festival started; these were led by volunteers from Nantwich Museum and the Festival. The Festival team is keen to thank all the businesses that gave their time to put on tasting events that really showed the diversity of food and drink within the town.

The Cocoa Yard was buzzing on Festival Saturday with all the events organised by the businesses in the Yard; it’s great to hear from them that they hope to extend this for Festival 2026.

Live music started on Friday and continued right through until the very end of the Festival, creating a fantastic atmosphere at both music stages and in the town centre too. As usual, independent Cheshire’s Silk Radio did a great job at the Utowpia and Snugbury stages, ensuring that entertainment and festival updates continued between appearances of all the live bands. Many visitors came specially to catch their favourite bands and said it was the best live music ever heard at the Festival.

Nantwich Town Deputy Mayor, Councillor Kim Jamson did a great job in choosing her favourite exhibitor stalls; at Love Lane in the AFH & Hall Smith Whittingham marquee, Jinger Drinks gained the 3rd place rosette, SA Sauces, the 2nd place, but ZK Olives was the winner.

The Boughey town centre area stall winner was St Lukes, with Kickass Cheese taking the 2nd place rosette and The Coconut Man in 3rd place. Whilst over at Bowling Green (Mornflake Pavilion), Cllr Jamson chose Harrison & Griffiths Rumcake for her 3rd place, Cheerbrook was awarded the 2nd place, but the overall winner in that marquee was the lovely cake stall Casa Mia.

So, what was the opinion of the visitors?

Jaine from Chester said:

“We come every year and although there is a Chester festival, we prefer the Nantwich one; there are more things to do and activities for all ages too.”

Jacob came from Wales to attend the Festival and told us “I think it’s amazing that Nantwich Food Festival is 3 days long and is free to enter; the food is amazing.”

Megan from Nantwich had brought her niece and nephew, who had a great time at the Circus Academy; she thought the entertainment was an excellent idea, with Gus’s favourite being the cup & ball and Nora’s being the stilts.

John came from Golden Hill near Kidsgrove; he and his partner, Joan love all the international and local foods and feel that the festival really showcases local produce. They were pleased that the event brings visitors to this lovely town.

Both new and regular Festival exhibitors were pleased to add their views:

Antoinetta of Cara Miss said:

“It’s an absolutely fantastic few days; since exhibiting at Nantwich last year my business has grown, so I’m delighted!”

Isi of Clotton Creamery told us:

“We sold out of lots of our produce on Festival Friday, so had to restock for the rest of the weekend; what a great festival.”

NW Air Ambulance was pleased to report that they had beaten their 2024 takings at the Festival with a combination of sales, donations and raffle monies.

The longest established Festival exhibitor and sponsor, Mornflake, was delighted with another good trading weekend at Nantwich.

Charlotte told us:

“We ran out of many products by the end of Saturday; the atmosphere has been great and the volunteers very helpful as usual. This is Mornflake’s 350th year milling and selling oats to local people, so long may it continue.”

Overall a great success; Festival Chairwoman Chris Farrall says:

”We would like to send a special huge thank you to Nantwich Town Council plus all the generous Festival Sponsors. Their continued support of the event enables it to take place every year for the benefit of Nantwich businesses, and to encourage visitors to return to the town to maintain its vibrancy.

She also thanked all the volunteers for their work and gave a particularly warm welcome to the 15 new volunteers, some of whom will be crucial in the success of Nantwich Food Festival in future years.

Chris went on to say:

“The Festival has continued work started more than 3 years ago around waste disposal and this year again worked closely with ASH Waste Services to improve our sustainability. The recycling and improved waste management system trialled last year was improved for 2025, with great success and will improve further in future years.

Lastly and most importantly, Festival Director, Nanna Pedley says:

“We want to sincerely thank the local residents and businesses for all their support and patience with the organisational and infrastructural demands of holding this event in the town itself. We realise that it is disruptive to their lives, but we organise the Festival every year to ensure that visitors experience the town, not just the Festival.

Nanna finished, saying:

“We have a thorough ‘lessons learned’ review planned in a few weeks time to share what worked well and what areas need improvement to feed into our planning for 2026, but before then, the Nantwich Food Awards will be presented to winners on 10th October at a special Awards evening in Nantwich Civic Hall."

Finally, do make sure you note the dates of Nantwich Food Festival 2026:

Friday 4th to Sunday 6th September inclusive.