Shrewsbury Food Festival under way and proving to be ‘epic’ success despite travel interruptions

The start of the two-day event, which opened at 10am on Saturday, saw the town’s Quarry park fill with a range of stallholders, demonstrations, live music, and children’s activities.

Over 10,000 people attended on the day, not deterred by a day of travel disruption as trains were cancelled between Wellington and Shrewsbury due to signalling staff being taken ill.

Beth Heath, from organisers Shropshire Festivals, said day one had been “absolutely epic”.

She added: “We’ve got a few empty stalls so that means lots of people will be home making and baking and that’s what it’s all about.

“It’s been an absolute smasher of a day, the weather has been perfect. We’ve tried some new things this year and everything’s worked really well.

“We have a whole taste-not-waste thing going on, cooking demonstrations to help people with the cost-of-living, explaining all about best before dates and how to get the best out of your food.

“The homes and gardens area is bigger than ever, we have shed loads of kids stuff which has gone down really well.”

The train cancellations did cause some heartache for the organisers, who had faced train strikes during last year’s food festival.

Beth added: “It was a real pain. It affects the local producers, we pick up a lot of clientèle from up and down the train line, and if they can’t get here then they won’t come back to Shrewsbury.

“Part of the reason we do this is to get people into the town and show them what else we have on offer, it impacts the whole tourist industry of the town.

“It was a real kick in the teeth, it’s not what anyone wanted. But it’s still been a great day.”

David McCreadie, 31, came from Doseley with his wife, Lauren, 31, and two-year-old daughter, Gracie.

Their plans were mildly disrupted by the train cancellations, but it didn’t put a damper on their day.

He said: “It’s been absolutely amazing, the whole venue all the staff have been absolutely wonderful, we’ve really enjoyed ourselves.

“We’ve been once before without our daughter but we’ve received the same warm welcome, the same great hospitality.”

Trader, Asher Budwig travelled up from London with his chocolate-covered fruit business, BananaMan.

This weekend was Asher’s first time at the festival and first time in the county down.

He said: “It’s been great, a really nice day. Everyone has been so friendly and so welcoming, and we’ve seen a lot of people come from a long way.

“One couple made a holiday out of it, and came up from Swindon.

“It’s our first time in Shrewsbury, it’s a very nice time – we had a great fish and chips last night! We’re very impressed.”