Popular pub on festival menu
APOPULAR town centre pub has been named as a sponsor for the Rochdale Food and Drink Festival, which is being staged for the first time on Saturday, March 24, at the town hall.
The Flying Horse Hotel and its catering arm Quirky Catering will be showcasing their produce at the festival itself, selling hot homemade food and hosting gin tastings. The Packer Street pub will also be running warm-up events on the run-up to the festival, including Fabulous Fridays in February featuring live music, food, fizz and cider deals.
Jean-Christophe Novelli, Nisha Katona, Andrew Nutter and Tom McNeeney will be cooking live during the new event, with seven 40-minute demonstrations scheduled.
The festival kitchen will be located inside the town hall along with plenty of stalls and free things to do.
There’ll be an outside food and drink village, a series of free themed workshops covering wine tasting, cocktail making, chocolate making and more plus live music from local acts.
CBeebies ‘I Can Cook’ presenter Katy Ashworth is promising to bring her energetic burst of silliness and family fun to the festival indoor stage – with shows at 10.30am and 1.30pm aimed ●●Patricia Boothman, manager of The Flying Horse Hotel and the Quirky Catering Company with staff Adam Sweeney (left) and Jon Hudson at children and grown-ups packed with games, sing a long songs and laughter, learning about where food comes from through music and imagination.
Patricia Boothman, Manager of The Flying Horse Hotel and The Quirky Catering Company, said: “We have been a big supporter of local events over the years and I was very excited to hear about this new festival produced by the team behind Rochdale Feel Good Festival. We’re looking forward to the opportunities it will present and have lots planned over the coming weeks and during the festival itself. There is now a great food and drink offer in the town centre and I believe in promoting this to as wide an audience as possible, which is why events like Rochdale Food and Drink Festival are so important.”
Coun Janet Emsley added: “Having two sponsors for this new event is a real show of confidence and having these local businesses on board is a great addition.
“We are grateful to all the companies who support our events and it’s exactly this kind of support which really gives us a boost. We’ve lots of exciting plans for this new event.”
To book cookery workshop tickets and find out more visit rochdale.gov.uk/ events Like the festival on Facebook facebook.com/ RochdaleFoodFestival or follow @RochFoodFest on Twitter.