Food & Drink Festival attracts highest visitor numbers to date!
The Royal Leamington Spa Food & Drink Festival has yet again attracted record visitor numbers and has been hailed the town’s best food & drink festival yet. Close to 23,000 people attended the event on Saturday 10 & Sunday 11 September which is 6,000 more than last year. Many visitors came from overseas, some from as far as New Zealand and America. Despite all the ‘windy’ reports on the weather channels, the sun shone most of the day and everyone remarked on how great the atmosphere was.
Festival highlights included demonstrations by Celebrity Chef ‘Rustie Lee’ and ‘James McIntosh’ at the AGA Rangemaster Live Kitchen which attracted huge crowds. Over 100 businesses exhibited and feedback has been very positive with many already booking for next year. The “Best Stall” award was won by Sarah Edwards Cakes. Organised by BID Leamington, the Festival has gained an enviable reputation as one of the leading food and drink festivals in the region.
Yet again the Taste Trail was an outstanding success attracting 15 participating restaurants - the highest number involved in the initiative to date. Nearly 2,000 people sampled food over the two days at restaurants including Ask, Bombay Tandoori, Café Rouge, Gallu’s, Murphy’s Bar, Pizza Express, Sabai Sabai, Sozzled Sausage, Strada, The Benjamin Satchwell, The Clarendon, The Fox & Vivian, The Newbold, The Shakespeare and Zizzi.
Visitors also enjoyed an array of delicious free Mexican food from Discovery and tasted some fantastic wines courtesy of Oxford Landing Estates. Live music was performed by popular local bands including the Sheila Fawkes Jazz Band, Lament, Discovery Jalisco and Gebby Eaton. The lucky winner of the £250 hamper was Eloise Myrie who works for Virgin Holidays concession in House of Fraser, Leamington Spa.
Simon Lavin from Southam stated “Each year I’ve attended the Festival with my family and I would definitely say this was the best one to date. We enjoyed it so much; we even came back on the Sunday and managed to eat at all 15 restaurants! BID Leamington did a fantastic job in organising such an enjoyable and well managed event”.
Stephanie Kerr, Executive Director of BID Leamington, stated “Our fourth Festival has been a fantastic success. Exhibitors reported substantial sales with many trebling their usual weekend turnovers. The Taste Trail was yet again one of the highlights, you could feel the buzz as you walked around town and there was a fantastic atmosphere in the Pump Room Gardens!”
Further information about the 2011 Festival can be found by visiting leamingtonfoodfestival.co.uk.
