Warwick to stage film and food festival

Suddenly everyone in Warwick seems to be singing from the same hymn sheet as traders in Smith Street, members of the town’s Chamber of Trade and the Warwick Rocks group have won a grant of £25,000 to stage a food and film festival later this year.
Pictured in Smith Street: Paul Evans, together with others in the town, are organising a food and film festival for August Bank Holiday weekend.Pictured in Smith Street: Paul Evans, together with others in the town, are organising a food and film festival for August Bank Holiday weekend.
Pictured in Smith Street: Paul Evans, together with others in the town, are organising a food and film festival for August Bank Holiday weekend.

Barber Paul Evans, left, is one of the people at the centre of plans to stage the ambitious week-long event over the 
August Bank Holiday.

And major attractions in the town like Warwick Castle and the racecourse have already pledged their 
support.

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Mr Evans said Smith Street - which is the oldest shopping street in the town - will host the food section of the event where existing butchers, bakers and restaurants will welcome 
additional stalls from other parts of the town, all showcasing a range of local produce farmed 
withinin the area.

Mr Evans said: “There are many different groups working to improve theeconomy in Warwick and instead of working separately we all came together last year to discuss what we could do about increasing the footfall in the town.

“I thought of a food festival but at first didn’t think we would be able to get Smith Street closed to traffic for a second day in the year because it is already closed during the annual folk festival in July.”

After learning that it was possible to have another closure, other people elaborated on Paul’s original idea to include films being shown on giant screens at various locations in the town which would encourage people to stay longer.

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No specific theme of films has yet been agreed but supporters include former town mayor Trudy Offer and Tim Harrison-Jones, general manager of Warwick Castle who said: “We’re proud to support events that bring more visitors to the town. We’ll be delighted to discuss ways in which we may be able to deploy our expertise to help support the venture given the success of our film screenings last year - as well as other events such as our summer concerts.”

Announcing the funding awards allocated so far, county council leader Alan Farnell said: “Operation Footfall is our crusade to boost the local economy by awarding grounds of between £5,000 and £30,000.”

All applications for cash have to be made by May 1 and, as well as Warwick’s successful bid, there has been money allocated for an independents’ shopping day in Leamington, another food festival in Alcester, a 3D light spectacular in Stratford and a sculpture trail in Nuneaton.