Yorkshire Dales Food & Drink Festival heads to Skipton

The Yorkshire Dales Food & Drink Festival, the UK's largest ticketed food festival, will take place in Skipton later this year.

The event will be back from 18th-20th July after it was rescued by Staffordshire-based Cocker Hoop Creative Ltd.

The three-day festival will move to its new home at Aireville Park and feature an all-star line-up of celebrity chefs, music, DJs, comedians, hundreds of amazing food and drink producers and a whole host of family fun.

It will welcome back local food hero, James Martin who has thrilled audiences in previous years.

He will appear on the Big Top Cooking Stage alongside celebrity chefs including Simon Rimmer, Rosemary Shrager, Galton Blakiston, MasterChef contestant Owen Diaram and Great British Menu contestant Tom Shepherd, with his now famous Desperate Dan Cow Pie.

There will be toe-tapping music from both sides of the Atlantic to entertain the whole family throughout the weekend including a first for the Yorkshire Dales, the Limelight Orchestra, a 40-piece orchestra who will be performing their Ibiza Proms on Friday evening to get everyone dancing.

If 70s is your thing, then Brutus Gold Love Train will be wowing the crowd and there will also be over 20 tribute acts performing during the weekend including Little Mix, Taylor Swift, Oasis and the Spice Girls and straight from London’s west end, The Blues Brothers.

The party will continue over the weekend with top celebrity DJ’s bringing people together with their epic DJ sets. A full list of music headliners and music will be announced in the coming weeks.

Jon Arrowsmith, MD at event organiser Cocker Hoop Creative Ltd, said: 

“Relaunching and relocating the Yorkshire Dales Food & Drink Festival felt like the right thing to do.

"It has always been a fantastic festival which blends delicious food and drink with inspiring chefs, brilliant music, hilarious comedy, and encourages everyone to dance the night away.

“We’re excited about the festival’s brilliant new location too, meaning it's more accessible than ever before as we’re minutes away from the bus and rail stations, so people have more choice about how to travel to us for the weekend or if they are simply joining us for a day of fun. 

"And because we’re in the heart of Skipton, it allows local businesses to ride along with us, benefit from the extra footfall, and enjoy the spotlight being firmly placed on the town.

“I’m also proud to say that we’ve worked hard to make the festival even friendlier on people’s purse-strings by reducing ticket prices, scrapping all booking fees, and adding in lots more free activities. It really will be a great weekend experience with something for everybody to enjoy.”

Baking-enthusiasts will be well catered for with a new Great British Bake Off (GBBO) cookery tent where cherished previous contestants will be whipping up cakes and bakes in front of a live audience.

It will feature Amanda Geogiou, James Hillery, Val Stones, Janusz Domagala and Karen Wright who will all be chatting about their time in the famous TV baking tent.

North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for highways and transportation which includes parks and grounds, Cllr Keane Duncan, said:

“We are delighted and extremely proud to be supporting the Yorkshire Dales Food & Drink Festival as it’s hosted for the first time at Aireville Park in Skipton. 

"There will be plenty for visitors to see and do as this very exciting and huge event comes to Skipton.

“We have worked closely with the organisers to assess the site’s suitability for the event, and we are all looking forward to what we hope will be a successful weekend enjoyed by all.

“Many thanks to everyone who has been involved in ensuring the park is maintained to a very high standard for the enjoyment and benefit of our communities.”

For those looking to learn a new skill, the three-day festival will also host a series of food masterclasses and activities such as floral crown making, a cheese and wine school, real ale and cider club, cocktail making as well as BBQ and Pitmaster demonstrations.

For the younger festival goers, there will be lots of fun activities to keep them entertained including a circus school, dinosaur interactions, jewellery making, food science, kids cinema, storytelling, an early evening disco and a petting zoo.

Sarah Howsen, Skipton BID Manager, added:

“Skipton BID is proud to support the return of Yorkshire Dales Food & Drink Festival 2025. The weekend promises to be a celebration of food, drink, and music, and it is fantastic news that it has relocated into the town, only a short walk from our thriving town centre.

“The event will bring a welcome boost to our local economy, and allow visitors to experience all that is great about Skipton and our vibrant food and drink scene. Events like this are vital in putting Skipton on the map as a destination for food lovers, families, and visitors from across the UK.”

Come dusk, and another first for the festival, the Big Top Cooking Stage will transform into a comedy club where the funniest standups in the UK will have the crowd in stitches.

The Yorkshire Dales Food & Drink Festival welcomes day-trippers and weekend campers.

There’s plenty of options for a sleeping over including space for motorhomes, caravans, campervans or by staying in one of the luxury glamping tents.

Jon added:

“We know the cancellation of the festival last year was a massive shock to everyone concerned, so we made a commitment to all the traders affected to roll their pitch fees over for 2025. We’re pleased that almost all of them are coming back.

“To date, we have more than 220 traders signed up – more than last year – but we still have room for some more producer stalls. We’re prioritising businesses from Yorkshire, so please get in touch if you’d like to book a place, but you’ll have to be quick, they’re selling fast.”

The original Yorkshire Dales Food & Drink Festival, launched in 2016 and it quickly became the go-to festival for food lovers from Yorkshire and beyond looking for a weekend to remember.

Cocker Hoop Creative Ltd has been running events and large-scale festivals for the past nine years including the Lichfield Food festival which is attended by more than 160,000 people across the weekend.

To find out more about the Yorkshire Dales Food & Drink Festival and to book tickets, visit: https://www.ydfadfw.com