THOUSANDS of foodies descended on The Pantiles last weekend (May 13-14) f or Sankey’s annual Spring Food Festival, as visitors got a taste of delicious dishes prepared by local chefs.
A record 12,000 visitors attended the festival over the weekend for the most extravagant tasting menu in town, where food-lovers were able to try a huge range of cuisines and flavours from around the world.
Cooking demonstrations took place on the iconic bandstand by talented local chefs including Bobby Brown, Rachel Phipps, Adam Shaw, Mark Charker, James Hollister, Mark O’Brien, Anna Stanford, Natalie Seldon, Scott Goss, and Steve Anderson.
The festival was blessed with sunshine and live music as the historic cobbled streets of The Pantiles came alive for the family fun weekend.
Jason Vickers, Head of Marketing & Events at Cordis, organisers of the festival, said: “The weekend was incredible. The turnout was fantastic, I’ve never seen so many people at The Pantiles before!
“With over 12,000 people visiting the site over the two days – double the amount of last year – it is the most successful food festival we’ve hosted at The Pantiles to date.
Hosting and sponsoring the event was seafood specialist Sankey’s, which runs The Old Fishmarket on The Pantiles, its Kitchen and Bar on Mount Ephraim and a fishmonger in Vale Road.
Owner Matthew Sankey said: “Thank you to everyone who attended our Spring Food Festival. We had a mega couple of days on The Pantiles, where the sun was shining, and the streets were packed!
“A big shout-out to all involved in making the event such a success, including the amazing chef demos… [and] the brilliant live music. Anna Lambert was a terrific host and compere throughout the event.
“We hope everyone enjoyed the event as much as we did. We’re already looking forward to the next!”
This weekend (May 27 and 28), the town will be filled up again for The Pantiles Gin & Jazz Festival.
