Manchester Food and Drink Festival has today announced the dates of its 17^th annual event, following another record breaking year in 2013.

The 2014 Festival will take place from 18^th – 29^th September 2014, with its ‘Hub’ in Albert Square once again providing the focus of the twelve day food extravaganza.

This year’s event will build on the massive success of 2013, which saw record numbers of visitors to the city centre taking part in dozens of events and activities. More than 90,000 people attended the Festival Hub on Albert Square over the 11 days last year, with traders reporting record figures. Economic impact research showed that the average MFDF attendee spends nearly £40 per head, meaning an overall additional spend in the city during the Festival of £4m.

The Festival, who are working with brand partnership agency A Food In The Door on sponsorship this year, is delighted to announce a brand new sponsor in 2014. Thwaites Brewery have ‘stepped up to the plate’ as part of an exciting new 3 year partnership. Thwaites will become the Official Brewer to the Festival, supporting the event through to 2016. Amongst other things they’ll be hosting ‘The Thwaites Festival of Beer’ at the Festival Hub from the 18th - 21st September 2014... more details will soon be announced!

The legendary MFDF Gala Dinner and Awards will once again take place in the Town Hall on Monday 29th September rewarding the full breadth of the regional food and drink industry - including Restaurant, Chef, Pub, Bar and Newcomer of the Year. The full list of 2014 categories is now live on the Festival website and businesses are invited to put forward their submissions.

Festival Director Phil Jones comments:

“It is fantastic to see the Festival still achieving ground breaking success. It engages with more Mancunian businesses than any event in the city. We continue to support the day and night-time economies of Greater Manchester. Over the many years of our MFDF awards we’ve told the country about more than 500 nominees, all of whom we’d say are world class. The businesses that the Festival supports and promotes always report terrific business boost post-event too. The Festival gets no events funding from Manchester City Council and we’d specifically like to thank all our great sponsors for ensuring Manchester’s finest food event is still able to take place. We’re delighted to welcome Thwaites on board. We also believe the Festival caters for more genuine Mancunians than any other (excluding the footie!). Having said that we know approximately 25% of everyone attending the Festival is a visitor to the city. That great mix is one of the reasons why we believe the Festival is so worth supporting.”

The 2013 event statistics...

• Over 90,000 people visited the Festival Hub


• 1,500 people visited the 5th Big Indie Wine Fest.


• 11 MFDF awards handed at the Gala Dinner at Manchester Town Hall.


• 1,250 schnitzels were munched in Albert’s Square


• Over 800 jobs supported by the Festival.


• Over 100 different local beers sold at the Festival Hub.


• 1 campaign was launched to start the fight towards food poverty in Manchester.


• 209 local restaurants, bars and businesses supported the Festival.