Member Article

Record footfall for Woking Food and Drink Festival

The third annual Woking Food and Drink Festival attracted record crowds as the region’s small businesses came together to showcase street food and handmade produce.

Lasting from Friday morning until Sunday night, the festival welcomed more than 90,000 featuring businesses from across Surrey, as well a celebrity appearances including famous chef Monica Galetti.

Leader of Woking Borough Council, Cllr John Kingsbury said: “This year’s Woking Food and Drink Festival delivered everything we set out to achieve and more. It drew a huge number of visitors to our refurbished Town Centre, who we hope liked what they found and will keep returning on a frequent basis.

“In line with our desire to support our home-grown talent and as a way of encouraging people to shop local, the festival provided a valuable showcase for our artisan food producers, local restaurants and critically acclaimed chefs.

“Bigger and better each year, the festival is a joyous occasion for bringing the community together to celebrate and share its love of food. Not only is the festival delicious and exciting, it is also educational with free masterclasses, cookery demonstrations and an interesting array of international cuisines on offer.

“My sincere thanks to our sponsors, participating retailers and to everyone involved in putting on this impressive show. It all adds to the ongoing transformation of our Town Centre and developing cultural scene.”

Welcoming over 300 visitors to its new Town Centre premises during the festival for a tour of its state-of-the-art academy, Tante Marie’s Managing Director, Andrew Maxwell said: “Woking Food and Drink Festival gets bigger and better each year. This year’s festival had an amazing vibe achieved by the diversity and number of local food and drink exhibitors in attendance, including the integration of the new market, which really embraced the event.

“The beating heart of the festival was the Tante Marie Culinary Academy Theatre, which featured a selection of experienced, quality chefs from around the area. The demonstrations were exceptional and the crowds definitely seemed to enjoy watching the chefs in action. Overall all, it was a great event all round!”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .