It’s a decade since the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the golden fortnight of the London Olympics brought the UK together in celebration.
Ten years on and the nation is readying itself to party again this summer as we mark The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. In Tynemouth a smaller, but for good food lovers no less important anniversary, is set to be observed this spring.
May 7-8 will mark 10 years since the first Tynemouth Food Festival cooked up a storm in the coastal village. Few would probably have predicted it would outlast its first year. Yet against the odds it can now claim to be one of the North East’s longest running and undeniably popular food festivals.
Read more: Popular North Tyneside food festival to return in May with selection of stalls confirmed
It has helped give birth to the critically acclaimed Riley’s Fish Shack – beloved of food critic Jay Rayner and top Michelin starred chef Michel Roux Junior – that has helped put Tynemouth on the national dining out map from its picturesque beachside pitch on King Edward’s Bay. It has given a welcome boost to numerous street food ventures, artisan producers and chefs. And it’s promoted an at times much needed community spirit as the world has navigated a not always harmonious course in recent years.
Like many such events, Tynemouth Food Festival started out life as a modest dream in the head of a small band of culinary connoisseurs. One of those people was Sally Craigen, a retired headteacher turned award-winning bed and breakfast owner.
Back in 2012 she was also chair of the Tynemouth Business Forum, which had been looking for ways to promote the area, which was still feeling the ill-effects of the late Noughties credit crunch. The idea of a food event had been mooted by some members back in 2010, but that was as far as it had gone.
But Sally, a long-time fan of farmers’ markets, decided to resurrect the idea. She thought there must be others who shared her appetite for good food and would be prepared to travel to find it. She gathered together a group of volunteer helpers, and Tynemouth Food Festival was born.
Casting her mind back Sally said: “It was envisaged to showcase Tynemouth as a destination and the initial food festival was all about promoting not just the village but local businesses and the area’s food scene. All the stallholders and street food businesses were local, so we had the likes of Deli Around the Corner and Wine Chambers, both Tynemouth businesses, as well as local producers.
“And, of course, we had Adam Riley. He built his never to be forgotten mobile fish barbecue for the first Tynemouth Food Festival and launched what has gone on to become the incredibly popular Riley’s Fish Shack, still based here in Tynemouth.”
That initial food festival was never seen as being anything more than a glorified farmers’ market with limited stalls. But like Jack’s beanstalk, the idea grew and grew, and that first outing swelled to more than 40 stalls, chef demonstrations, and a series of pop-up restaurant nights hosted by some of the North East’s top dining names, held over two days in what was the King’s School (now Kings Priory) and Victoria Park in the village.
The Cumberland Arms pub on Front Street put on a real ale festival, and in the run-up to the event local children took part in a Garibaldi biscuit decorating competition, feeding back to the Italian patriots visit to Tynemouth in 1854 where he stayed for some days at a house on Huntington Place that's now part of King's Priory School. The winning entries were displayed in shops across the village.
Around 10,000 people flocked to the inaugural food festival, with even more descending on Tynemouth when the organisers, buoyed up by the success of that first outing, decided to serve up a second helping on the King’s School and Victoria Park site.
By the third year the festival had become so popular it had outgrown its home in the centre of the village and moved into its present location in the grounds of Tynemouth Priory and Castle. Was Sally surprised by the festival’s success?
“Yes and no. Yes, it was an unknown entity but no, in the fact that, at that time there weren’t that many festivals around in our area and people were really wanting what we were offering. At the end of the second year it was obvious that we needed more space, so we moved into the Priory.
"That allowed us to increase the number of market stalls and street food vendors significantly, and also to put on more entertainment for children, so it became a real family event and an even better day out.”
There have been other changes. A decade on and Sally is no longer involved. After the festival’s 2018 outing she handed the reins over to North Tyneside Council, which has another tasty line-up planned for this year’s event, back in its traditional May slot after the Covid pandemic saw it moved to September last year.
Once again, people can expect some of the region’s best street food and pop up bars, local market traders, live music, and family entertainment. Street food traders confirmed include Di Meo’s Ice Cream, Fat Hippo, Scream for Pizza, Acropolis, Hatch 76, Goodtime Tacos, Flip’n’Fast, Redheads Mac’n’Cheese, and many more.
There will also be a festival bar stocking North East craft beers and ciders by Anarchy Brew Co, alongside special gin and cocktail trailers. A selection of stalls will be selling locally produced artisan products and gifts, including Good Tempered Chocolate Co, Baristocracy Coffee, St Mary’s Premium Spirits, The Brownie Bar, Love Leaf Tea, Zenote Handmade, Screaming Chimp Chilli Sauce, Weardale Cheese, and Northumberland Sausage Co.
With the benefit of hindsight, what does Sally think the food festival has done for the North East food and drink scene? She said: “It has made people a lot more aware of local producers around here and it has enabled a lot of producers to grow. I also think, because of the success of the food festival, a lot of other festivals have appeared.
"They saw how well we were doing and how successful Tynemouth was, and it sparked other people to become involved in running festivals in other areas, all of which has had a hugely positive impact on the North East artisan food and drink scene.”
Advance tickets for this year's Tynemouth Food Festival are available now from www.seetickets.com and are priced at £3.50 for adults, guaranteeing entry on the day. Children aged 15 and under are free, when accompanied by an adult.
