Hundreds sample delights at Newbury Food Festival

NEWBURY was transformed into a food lover’s paradise over the bank holiday weekend as the town’s popular food festival made its return.
Over 50 traders selling a range of mouth-watering produce and cuisines from all over the world gathered on Northbrook Street and Bartholomew Street on Sunday and Monday.
The event – run in partnership with the Newbury BID, was first introduced in the Market Square last June and proved so popular that organisers came back for a second bite last October.
As the festival took place on Easter Sunday – a special Easter egg hunt was set up keep guests entertained.
Thousands of visitors were given the task of locating eggs which were scattered among the town centre shops and each containing a single letter.
Once visitors had found all the eggs and spelt out the word ‘Visit Newbury’ they were entered into a draw to win prizes including £300 worth of vouchers and a selection of hampers.
Speaking to the Newbury Weekly News this week, festival organiser Jack Mcleod said: “It exceeded all expectations and was a fantastic weekend of food and fun.
"Sunday was a bit of a washout with the weather but Monday was lovely and people turned out in force to support the event.
“Once again the people of Newbury showed how keen they were to get involved and the Easter egg hunt went down particularly well.
“We hope that June’s festival will be even bigger and better. We want to encourage more bands and budding chefs to come along and make this event as local as possible to Newbury.”
Mr Mcleod also revealed that he had big plans for the next festival – due to be held in June – with a performance from the Ladies Military Choir and a big stage set up for local bands to get involved.