The Ilkley Food and Drink Festival will return to East Holmes Field for a celebration of international food, independent drink, live music, arts and charity.
After attracting a whopping 20,000 attendees to the quaint spa town of Ilkley over the past two years, organisers promise that this year's festival will be bigger and better than ever before.
Taking place from Saturday 11 - Sunday 12 June 2023, visitors can expect an impressive array of street food venders, bars, fine artisan markets, live cooking demos and a whole lot more.
Take a stroll through the idyllic green fields of East Holmes Field and be greeted with the smells and temptations of delicious food from all over the world.
Image: Ilkley Food and Drink Festival
After tucking into something yummy, why not put your feet up on one of the deck chairs whilst placing an order from one of the eight independent bars which will be quenching people's thirsts all weekend.
Fancy getting in on the action? The Ilkley Food and Drink Festival will be hosting a full Live Chef’s demo stage for the entire weekend. Working with Zest Charity & Leeds Cookery School, you can watch the region’s best chef’s rustle up a storm.
Image: Ilkley Food and Drink Festival
Each chef will be showcasing unique culinary expertise and focusing on a variety of different ingredients and cuisines from around the world.
Of course after being surrounded by such amazing food, you'll definitely want to take some goodies home with you and you can do so by browsing the fine artisan markets shacking up for the weekend. Showcasing some of the best independent producers from across the UK, tuck into a gooey brownie before sampling some cheese and taking your perfect match home with you.
Image: Ilkley Food and Drink Festival
And it doesn't stop there, across the weekend there will be live entertainment, music, children's entertainment and loads of activities to keep you occupied.
The festival's charity partner is Mind in Bradford who they have already raised over £65,000 for over the past two years. They'll be collecting donations through ticket sales as well as fun activities and competitions taking place over the weekend.
Early bird tickets are available now for just £6 each including booking fee, so if you're thinking of going then save yourself a few quid and book now via their website.
She's big, she's green and she's ready to ruin your figure.
A lot of you will have seen the viral ‘Bertha’ cake by Leeds born beloved sweet treat specialists Get Baked.
They recently opened another site in Manchester's Northern Quarter, where queues literally formed round the block of hungry punters wanting to get their hands on the infamous sugary treats.
And now it's going to happen all over again, as they've recently unveiled their newest flavour which is sure to go down a storm.
We’ll give you a hint: it’s a current food and drink trend that’s about as big as Bertha herself – it’s not matcha, it’s not hot honey (duh), and it’s not Guinness…
Images: Get Baked
Yes—scratch that; HELL YES!Get Baked is set to welcome Bertha’s equally beautiful twin sister, and she’s officially a pistachio girlie.
Having started out life simply as ‘Bruce’, after taking inspiration from the iconic scene from Matilda, this thing has become a phenomenon in its own right, and who doesn’t like more flavours of a good thing?
Probably one of the biggest foodie crazes going at the minute, thanks to the popularity of pistachio cream, cookies, lattes and the similar social media sensation that is the ‘Dubai Pistachio Bar' people are rather fittingly going nuts for this particular flavour of almost absolutely anything.
With that in mind, the Leeds-born bakery and dessert shop – founded by Rich Myers over in Headingley back in 2011 – have shown no hesitation in hopping on the bandwagon and creating a new twist on their own viral menu item.
Teasing the full details in a post on their Instagram this week, they wrote: “What’s big, green, and is going to destroy your life in a couple of weeks’ time? Pistachio Bertha. Strictly limited to 5,000 slices. Coming oh so soon. GB.”
In case you were wondering just how mad those with a sweet tooth could possibly go for a slice of cake, just look at the recent queues when they finally launched in Manchester city centre:
Speaking on the grand opening here on our turf and his partner Amy’s hometown, Myers said simply: “Manchester, what a launch. Thanks for much for the warm welcome. Stay baked.”
The Swine That Dines announces the official opening date of its brand new restaurant
Clementine Hall
Much-loved Leeds Bistro The Swine Bistro, formerly known as The Swine That Dines, has moved to a bigger space in Headingley.
Although it’s gone through a few name changes over the years since launching as The Greedy Pig cafe in 2012, this independent spot has long been a firm favourite for Leeds locals for some time now.
Run by chef couple Jo and Stu Myers, they’ve been operating out of North Street where it’s all about cooking seasonal produce simply and with an added ‘little bit of sunshine’.
But now Swine Bistro has moved up over to Headingley, taking up a unit previously occupied by Jam hairdressers on Otley Road.
Image: Supplied
And the time has finally come for them to open their doors, as they announce their first service will take place on Friday 4 April with bookings open from today, Thursday 20 March.
The Myers will be welcoming head chef Kirsty Cheetham, who won Observer Food Monthly’s Best Sunday Lunch award in 2018 and 2022 when she ran The Queen o’t owd Thatch in South Milford, Leeds.
The expanded space in the restaurant has allowed the team to curate a bigger wine list which will include natural wines from Wayward Wines and Latitude Wines as well as local beers from Ilkley Brewery and Horsforth Brewery.
Image: Supplied
The team remains passionate about locally sourced ingredients and has partnered with a variety of Yorkshire suppliers including R&J Yorkshire for its fresh meat, Tarbetts fishmonger, cheese from George & Joseph cheesemongers and beans from micro roaster, Chipp Coffee Co.
Jo Myers, co-owner of the Swine Bistro said: “It’s taken a huge amount of time and effort to realise our dream to revamp what was previously a hairdresser into a fully functioning kitchen and restaurant. It’s been a wild ride but we’re excited, and slightly nervous, to finally open our doors.
“We love the vibe in Headingley and the time out has allowed us to have fun with our menu as well as take part in lots of essential taste testing of ingredients and drinks from our brilliant local suppliers. We can’t wait to welcome guests into our new restaurant!”
Clementine Hall -
17th February 2023 
