Review of 'The Nantwich Food Festival (2025)'

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

The Nantwich Food Festival is the largest, free food festival in the UK and certainly the largest festival in Nantwich. Having lived in the town for a few years now we make an effort to attend the festival every year but not much really changes from year to year and we mostly just top up our larder by visiting a few vendors that we know will be there (e.g. Mornflake, one of the festival sponsors) and looking for something interesting to eat. On the later point, we are often, sadly, disappointed.

There is a lot to see here - Lots of street food vendors, stalls selling all manner of food and cooking equipment, live music on several stages and around the town, a food theatre with live cooking demonstrations, and even children activities (and a small fun fair). The whole town is taken over with things to see and do (get a free brochure for a map and a schedule of events over the three days).

The festival does appear to be getting larger but this year we noticed there were no big (chef/cooking) names in the “Food Theatre” (last year it was “Cherish Finden”, judge and pastry chef from “Bake Off: The Professionals”) but there were a few local chefs present that made it interesting. We saw a few demonstrations which were fairly interesting though they did not seem to be cooking other than the most basic dishes.

We will be back again next year but it is always much the same. We live in hope that there will be something interesting to eat at the street vendors and that there will be good shows at the food theatre but so far we have not had that luck…Don't get me wrong, if you want a fun day out with drinks and fast food aplenty along with decent live music, you can't go wrong. However, if you are a foodie (or drinkie?) looking for a bit more (and, to be fair, I am a bit spoiled with the number of food festivals I have been to - paid and free) you may find this food festival a bit lacking.

Still, it is an impressive show and worth a visit.

Rating: “It is OK but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2025-08-31

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.