New spot for street food fest

Part of the former Nasons department store site is to play host to one of Canterbury’s most mouthwatering attractions. It will help cater for the street food festival, City Feast, which organisers hope to launch on Friday, May 14, and then hold every weekend throughout the summer.

It follows discussions between the festival team and architects Clague, whose ambitious scheme for the building and site has stalled over environmental concerns outside the city and beyond their control.

But it has resulted in the yard at the rear of the store, off White Horse Lane, being offered as a new location for City Feast for 2021.

Organiser Blake Mccaskill says it is a very generous offer by Clague, who have previously been very supportive of the festival.

The event had intended to return to Guildhall Street, where it took place last year, but that plan has been thwarted by a number of new technical highway issues.

“Our office is very close to the yard and we always had our eye on it so when Clague offered the site to us, we jumped at the chance,” Blake said.

“It may be away from the main footfall on the High Street, but it’s still a great location. “We know City Feast has a big following from its previous success and with a bit of promotion and signage, people will still find us.”

Last year’s festival served up pizzas, burgers and offerings from the likes of Oscar & Bentleys, Happy Samurai and Eleto Chocolate Cafe.

Blake says this year’s City

Feast will again be offering the very best in street food from specialists, mostly from the Canterbury area, with at least 12 food and drink stalls.

“We’ll have some seating and make it a really nice setting to enjoy the food,” he said. “Obviously, we need to keep our fingers crossed that the lockdown continues to ease and it is an outdoor event, but we will obviously have a contingency plan.”

The City Feast festival was held in Guildhall Street last year

Some of the food on offer