Hairy Bikers and Jean-Christophe Novelli headline Doncaster food and drink festival

Spanning across four days of the May Bank Holiday weekend, from Friday 4 to Monday 7 May, the festival will feature entertainment, activities, hot street food and some exciting names from the culinary world.

This year, one of the UK’s favourite cookery duos the Hairy Bikers (Si and Dave) will be the star attractions of the festival. They will be making an appearance on Saturday 5 May in the demonstration kitchen based in Market Square, to show how to cook some of their favourite recipes using ingredients bought at Doncaster Market. The popular TV chefs will also spend part of the day taking in a walking tour of the market and will be on hand for meet and greets with their many fans.

Most recently seen on our television screens earlier this year with ‘The Hairy Bikers’ Mediterranean Adventures’, the much-loved pair have presented several hit TV programmes over the years and have also written twenty books to date, including a number of best-sellers.

Following the success of last year’s appearance, Jean-Christophe Novelli will also be returning to ‘Delicious Doncaster Food and Drink Festival’ on Sunday 6 May. The multi Michelin Award winning TV chef will once again demonstrate how to prepare some more of his mouth-watering dishes using locally sourced produce.

All of the celebrity chef cooking demonstrations on Saturday and Sunday will be ticketed events, so keep an eye on Visit Doncaster (@visitdoncaster) and My Doncaster (@mydoncaster) social media pages for further details – bookings will be open from 26 March.

The festival is set to take over the town centre and surround the streets of the town’s historic Market Square; showcasing its fantastic offer which is available all year round. There’ll also be over 100 additional stalls including travelling food retailers, hot foods, street foods and artisan producers to make sure every taste is catered for.

Visitors can look forward to plenty of other entertainment, cooking challenges and family fun over the four days of the festival. There’ll be cooking demonstrations from Doncaster College students and lecturers and the return of the Ready Steady Cook challenge on Friday 4 May. Local chefs and restauranteurs will also be appearing throughout the festival to demonstrate how to prepare mouth-watering dishes of their own.

Councillor Nigel Ball, Cabinet Member for Public Health, Leisure and Culture said: “It’s fantastic to see Delicious Doncaster Food and Drink Festival is bigger and better than ever this year. The Hairy Bikers are amongst the UK’s favourite chefs, so to have them involved in our festival is a real feather in the cap for Doncaster. We’ve also got Jean-Christophe Novelli returning, who proved to be a real favourite with the crowds when he appeared at last year’s festival. To have such huge names from the world of food involved really highlights our ambition to make this event an important date in our calendar. We’re aiming to attract not just food lovers from Doncaster, but food lovers from outside the borough and right across the region.

“There’s going to be plenty on offer throughout the festival weekend for the whole family and it’s also a great way to remind people about our award winning market. It’s important that people take advantage of the fantastic offer, shop locally and eat locally sourced produce; with the transformation of the Wool Market currently taking place as well, these really are exciting times for Doncaster Market.”

Further details of events and activities taking place across the Delicious Doncaster Food and Drink Festival weekend will be announced HERE