Organisers of Stockport’s popular Foodie Friday have been celebrating their success at the Manchester Food and Drink Festival.
Foodie Friday was named Best Food and Drink Pop Up Event after a combination of votes from members of the public and the judging panel of food and drink experts.
Taking place on the last Friday of the month, Foodie Friday is now in its third year and regularly attracts hundreds of people to Stockport Market Place with its unique offering of street food, craft ales and live music in a family-friendly atmosphere.
It is sponsored by Orbit Developments and Robinsons Brewery with support from Stockport Market, Bakers Vaults and Remedy Bar and Brewhouse.
“The success of Foodie Friday in Stockport demonstrates just how much can be achieved when the public and private sectors work together for the benefit of the local community,” says organiser John Barratt, of Seven Miles Out.
“From the very beginning Foodie Friday has always been a team effort and everyone involved including the market traders, music performers and especially our great supportive community have played a massive part in its success.”
Foodie Friday was originally started by Stockport Council in May 2013 as part of the ‘Love Your Local Market’ campaign.
The event was created and organised by Stockport Council’s market team who brought together the permanent Stockport Market traders with some of the best street food traders in the north west.
In March 2015, with financial support from Stockport’s Portas Pilot, Seven Miles Out took over the management and delivery of Foodie Friday working in partnership with Stockport Council’s market team and Esther Morrison who continued to source the street food traders.
Foodie Friday’s colourful branding was developed by Heaton Moor agency Ahoy Digital and the website was built by Stockport based web company Paul Jardine with design by Joe Barratt, co-founder of The Teenage Market.
Councillor Kate Butler, Executive Member for Economy and Regeneration at Stockport Council said: “This prestigious award is a testament to the sheer drive, hard work and determination of the Foodie Friday organisers to make the event the success it is today.
“It’s been fantastic to see Foodie Friday grow over the past few years and its success shines a light on our Market Place as well as the town’s growing food anddrink offer. I wish Foodie Friday every success for the future.”!
In January 2016, Orbit Developments, the town’s biggest commercial landlord, became headline sponsors of the event enabling it to continue growing in popularity throughout this year.
Tony Jones, Managing Director at Orbit Developments said: “We’re big supporters of change in Stockport and we’re keen to get behind any events which help to drive footfall and business in the town centre.
“The Orbit team have been attending Foodie Friday events for a while now and saw the potential in this family friendly event to become something much bigger with the right amount of funding and support.”