Stockport’s award-winning evening Foodie Friday returns to the Market Place on Friday 31 July, bringing street food, craft ales and live music to the historic Market Hall from 6pm.
The monthly event, which won Best Pop-Up, Event, Club or Project at the Manchester Food & Drink Festival 2016, now features more than 18 traders and regularly attracts between 3,000 and 5,000 visitors. Running until 9pm, the market has become a fixture of the town’s social calendar, with around 60 per cent of vendors based in Stockport itself.
Foodie Friday first launched in 2013 as part of the national Love Your Local Market campaign, initially drawing just a few hundred people. Since then it has grown into a community institution, passing into the hands of Seven Miles Out CIC in 2015. The July date falls at the peak of summer, offering a chance to explore cuisines ranging from Neapolitan pizza and Malaysian street food to Spanish tapas and halloumi fries.
Local traders include I Knead Pizza, Oh Mei Dumpling and The Pizza Peddler, whose wood-fired pizzas are served from a vintage Citroën van. Several nearby pubs and bars, among them Bakers Vaults, The Angel Inn and Thread Bar, also extend the evening’s entertainment beyond the market itself.
Entry remains free and the event has drawn visitors from across Greater Manchester since its early days. Sponsorship from Robinsons Brewery and technology firm CDL has helped fund infrastructure and safety improvements, ensuring the open-air market can welcome thousands each month.
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