Food and Drink Festival generates £2m
MANCHESTER Food and Drink Festival has reported a record year for visitors, generating an estimated £2m for the local economy.
This year’s festival, ran for 18 days in the city centre attracting more than 150,000 visitors, who enjoyed more than 5,230 ostrich burgers and more than 40,000 pints of beer drunk.
Research conducted during the event reported visitors from across the region, as well as from other parts of the UK and abroad. Customers gave the Festival an average score of 4 out of 5 when it came to their enjoyment.
Festival director Phil Jones said: “We estimate this year’s festival gave Manchester a spending boost of over £2m, made up of not only the spend by visitors to the Festival in the products they buy, but also the surrounding businesses from travel, to hotel stays, to all the suppliers we use to put on the event.
“More than 200 different businesses are involved in the Festival from marquee suppliers to independent food stalls. We believe that over 700 people undertake paid work through the festival in one way or another, which is an amazing feat in this current economy.”
Having lost funding from Manchester city council due to budget cuts, the festival relied on sponsorship from businesses including supermarket group Booths, Metrolink, and Stockport brewery Robinsons.
