Following heavy winds during Storm Lilian, we have taken the difficult decision to postpone the start of Bolton Food and Drink Festival.
Work is now underway to ensure that as much of the festival site as possible can open on Saturday morning.
Gazebos, tents and other events infrastructure have been severely damaged or significantly displaced overnight and early on Friday morning.
This will require an extensive clean-up operation before the site is safe for the public and our traders.
As with all major council events, contingency plans were in place in case of bad weather.
Unfortunately, localised gusts in the town centre were significantly higher than forecast.
We apologise to the public, market traders, performers and sponsors for the inconvenience this has caused.
We have not taken the decision to postpone lightly, however the safety and wellbeing of everyone involved with the festival is always our top priority.
Bolton Food and Drink Festival has a well-earned reputation as one of the biggest and best-run events of its kind in the country.
We hope the public will come out in force during the rest of the bank holiday weekend to support our many outstanding local traders, artists and performers.
Visitors will enjoy live music, free cooking demonstrations, ticketed events, celebrity spectaculars and free family entertainment across Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Please keep an eye on the festival’s website and social media channels.