Review of 'The Nantwich Food Festival'

https://www.nantwichfoodfestival.co.uk/

The Nantwich Food Festival returns to the streets of Nantwich following a Covid-hiatus of several years. This year it consisted of three main areas: The town centre, containing a few stalls and a large seating area on the green outside of St. Mary's church, “Love Lane” where the car park contained a large covered marquee of stands, a large number of stalls surrounding it, a live entertainment stage, and a food stage (“Reaseheath college Food Theatre”) - the neighbouring Morrison's car park was home to a small children's fairground, and the “Bowling Green” area to the east of St. Mary's (in the Bowling Green car park) which had many stalls, a covered marquee and seating area as well as a live music stage. Outside the stalls were mainly concerned with fast-food with few in the way of surprises while the marquees contained various food-related vendors and exhibits, some of which were even local.

In fact, the whole town was in festival spirit with other venues outside of these three main areas including a stage in the Nantwich Civic Hall to the north of the town square (near the bus station).

As it is a free festival as you might expect, it was incredibly busy but in general the crowds kept moving though with the huge numbers of people trying to find somewhere to eat during peak times was impossible. I was particularly disappointed that it little in the way of culinary surprises but it have some good food. There was, as you might expect, copious amounts of drinking which meant later in the day it was not so great for children but otherwise attendees were quite well behaved.

There were live music (outdoors) and demonstration stages (in marquees) which offered up entertainment throughout the hours of the event. The demonstration stages featured local chefs and events such as cooking competitions and discussions.

Parking was difficult with all town car parks jammed and attendees forced to either park in surrounding residential streets (making it a pain for locals) or attempt to take a local (infrequent) bus or (infrequent) train into the town.

All in all, an entertaining event that was much larger than I anticipated with massive crowds that at time felt uncomfortable. The food was not as varied as you might expect but it was OK and for a town the size of Nantwich it was very impressive.

Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2022-09-03

Location: Cheshire (England)

Address: Nantwhich, Cheshire ENGLAND

URL: /travel/europe/uk/england/cheshire/nantwich

Nantwich is a small medieval town a short distance south-west of Crewe, a major train hub in the north of England. It plays hosts to a number of yearly events including the Nantwich Food Festival and Nantwich Jazz Festival.