BEHIND THE HEADLINES: How Abergavenny Food Festival boosts local economy

THIS weekend, foodies will invade Abergavenny for “the Glastonbury of food festivals”.

Organisers actively encourage that label and expect 30,000 people to visit South Wales’ biggest gathering of food producers and chefs.

And they say it will add up to £4 million to the town’s economy – just one in a long list of events that has brought thousands of visitors flocking to Monmouthshire over the last few months.

The festival was founded by farmers Martin Orbach and Chris Wardle 16 years ago, during a bleak time for food producers and those making their living in the countryside. Worries over BSE had hit and the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak would hurt further in 2001.

But the festival has been thriving for many years now. Last year it was awarded the Best Event in Wales by the National Tourism Awards for Wales. A second food event is now put on in December just in time for Christmas.

There are not many events in the country that would be attended by two BBC radio shows on the same day – but the festival is one such event. BBC Radio 4 will be broadcasting from Abergavenny on their Saturday Live programme on Saturday morning, and will record The Kitchen Cabinet on Friday before it is played after Saturday Live.

The Kitchen Cabinet’s presenter, food critic Jay Rayner, will also be speaking at his My Dining Hell event on Friday evening at the Borough Theatre.

Other celebrity chefs attending include Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the Chiappa Sisters and London restaurant owners Samuel and Samantha Clark. The Clarks will be joined by former Daily Telegraph editor, now the Daily Mail’s deputy editor, Tony Gallagher, who spent time at their Moro restaurant after he left his last job.

Other traders will be travelling to the festival from around the UK – but the vast majority of the traders will be from the Gwent region or along the English border.

Staff work on putting the festival on throughout the year and operate with the aim of making enough money for the process to be repeated the next year – a sort of social enterprise, the festival’s chief executive Heather Myers said. She said its driving force was to promote food producers, cooks and anyone else involved with what the festival says is the food “craft, diversity and culture”.

She said: “We try to just cover our costs. It’s to help the town of Abergavenny and we have food credentials in spades.

“We take over the whole town centre and people with wristbands can wander around the town. The one area that people often miss, but is the most fun area, is the castle. It has a really good family area and quirky things happen there.”

All the staff at the festival are paid for their work over the year. The festival is simply too big an event to expect people to put the hundreds of hours in around the year and at the two events in September and December for free, she said.

Other businesses will be boosting their profile in the town centre. The Angel Hotel on Cross Street, which is usually full at the weekend anyway, will be running stalls and selling up to 5,000 Welsh cakes made by a team of eight bakers and sold by three of their staff.

And the hotel’s food and beverage manager, Ross Townley, said unusually for the hotel they will be serving food throughout the day – working through the afternoon when service usually stops. Its head chef, Wesley Hammond, will also be giving a talk in the Market Hall on Saturday.

The arts will also be featured at the festival. Installations made by Crickhowell-based Arts Alive Wales will celebrate British breed pigs with their theme Pigs and Garlands – by making huge model of pigs and hanging them around the festival.

Last year, their vegetable theme meant giant pea pods, onions and cabbages were on display made in workshops in the run up to the festival. The BBC’s Countryfile programme attended and presenter Julia Bradbury was filmed holding one of Arts Alive’s oversized courgettes.

And the festival is backed by Monmouthshire Council because all the investment it drives back into the county.

Its cabinet member for innovation, enterprise and leisure, Cllr Bob Greenland, said: “The Abergavenny Food Festival is of great importance to Monmouthshire. It reflects Monmouthshire’s position as the Food Capital of Wales, showcasing the best food and drink the county has to offer, from our renowned local producers to celebrity chefs and personalities such as Stephen Terry, Matt Tebbutt, Shaun Hill and Kate Humble, who have all made Monmouthshire their home.”

Janis Davies, who runs Goodies Womenswear on Frogmore Street and is a member of the Abergavenny Business Club, said other businesses not directly involved in the festival might miss out – visitors are so determined to make the most of visiting the festival they often stick to buying food and related goods. But she said the town certainly gets a boost in the long term.

Like other high-profile events which have taken place in the town over the summer, she said the festival gives businesses a boost because people are more likely to come back to Abergavenny again once they’ve seen what it can offer.

Mrs Davies said of visitors over the summer: “They spoke to me and said what a beautiful town, what a lovely town and they said, ‘we are going to come for a weekend’.”

Across Abergavenny five market venues can be accessed by buying a Stroller Ticket wristband. Children under 16 are free if they are accompanied by an adult.

Then within those venues there are over 230 food stalls showcasing their stock.

But it is not all about buying food. Chef demonstrations will be held in the town’s Market Hall, children can visit the Food Academy at the castle, a first ever Night Market will be held on the Saturday and individually ticketed events will be held around the town, like Mr Rayner’s talk.

Visitors can pick up an 80-page guide to direct them around the festival and passes can be bought from the Borough Theatre’s box office or at the festival itself. The box office will open on Saturday at 9am and the general market sites will be open from 9.30am until 6pm. They will be open until 5pm on Sunday.

Lower Brewery Yard will be open from 9.30am until 10pm and Abergavenny Castle will be open from 9.30am until 5pm. Last entry can be made half an hour before the attractions close.

The festival car parks, which are operated by volunteers from local sports clubs, are open from 8am until 8pm.

For more information on the festival or the event in December visit abergavennyfoodfestival.com or phone 01873 851643.