Rugby Food and Drink Festival will return bigger and better next summer

The festival will be expanded from Regent Street and Jubilee Gardens to also include Bank Street and Henry Street, which will allow the festival to grow and accommodate 50 food and drink traders.

Rich Warren, Rugby First operations director, said: “Rugby and Warwickshire are home to an amazing selection of food and drink producers, businesses and traders, so we want to use our festival to showcase the best that the region has to offer.

"We will be encouraging more of our town centre businesses to get involved and run their own fringe events alongside the festival, which will be promoted on our new food and drink website that we are launching next year.”

Visitors can expect an array of hand-picked producers offering hot and cold food to eat straight away and take home.

Craft beer, cocktails, English wine, locally distilled gin and hand-roasted coffee will also be on the menu.

A ‘Talks and Tasting’ tent will replace the previous chef demonstration stage where visitors can grill the experts, learn culinary tips, handle ingredients and sample a wide range of locally produced food and drink.

There will also be live music, children’s entertainment and spaces to relax and enjoy the atmosphere and the atmosphere.

As well as a new date, format and extended location, the festival is also the start of a new partnership with CJ’s Events Warwickshire - who will be putting on the event.

CJ’s Events Warwickshire is the company behind Warwick, Kenilworth, Nuneaton, Coventry War Memorial Park and Coombe Abbey food festivals, as well as several local markets.

The Rugby Food and Drink Festival will be CJ’s Events Warwickshire first event in Rugby.

Jamie John Walker said: “As a family run business which operates within Warwickshire, we have a track record of highly successful food festivals.

"We are absolutely delighted to be working in partnership with Rugby First to deliver the 2020 Food Festival.

"Supporting local independent businesses is what we love to do.

"We really care about the quality of our events and the offerings it has to the visitors, to ensure it has a great reflection on the town, and we are really looking forward to our first Food Festival in Rugby."

Applications for local food and drink traders are open now via www.localfoodfestivals.co.uk/apply-to-trade