Newcastle Food Festival 2025: Everything you need to know

After a successful year in 2024, the festival at Leazes Park in Newcastle has expanded its offerings to ensure a lively atmosphere this year too.

Festival director Michael Johnston said: “After a fantastic reception from the local community for our debut, we couldn’t be more excited about this weekend.

“We’ve brought in fresh attractions for returning faces, and we hope to recapture the same incredible atmosphere.”

(Image: Stephen Midgley) A key highlight of the event is the Street Food Arena, featuring 22 independent street food and dessert vendors.

These include Rekebot Ethiopia, Parm-O-Rama, and Pavs Dhaba.

Visitors can expect to sample a variety of international cuisine from regions such as Syria, Japan, Mexico, China, Spain, Italy, Vietnam, and India.

(Image: Stephen Midgley) The Artisan Markets feature an additional 65 independent businesses.

Here, festival-goers will find Toon Candies, Mallowdramatic, and MoodyMare Patisserie, amongst others.

This diverse range of stands offer a combination of sweet and savoury goods, crafts, gifts, homeware, and art.

(Image: Newcastle Food Festival) For those interested in beverages, a full ale house has been added in partnership with Vocation Brewery.

There are also nine independent bars serving cocktails, spirits, wine, and cider.

Details about the full lineup can be found on the event website.

To complement the food and drink offerings, various family-friendly activities are in place for ticket holders, including the Foodie Olympics.

(Image: Stephen Midgley) This and the Foodie Clue Quest Scavenger Hunt are the latest additions to the list of attractions for children.

Newcastle Food Festival also boasts three live stages hosting 14 performances over the weekend.

It includes a magic show and cook-off hosted by MasterChef’s Anthony O’Shaughnessy.

And additional attractions include roaming stilt walkers, a fun fair, kids cooking classes, and axe throwing.

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Tickets for the full weekend cost £14.95 for adults and £8.95 for under 16s, with under 5s going for free.

All ticket sales will contribute towards supporting Tyneside and Northumberland Mind, building on the £137,000 raised for Mind charities across the North of England.

The Newcastle Food Festival will continue in Leazes Park through to Monday. For tickets visit https://newcastlefoodanddrinkfestival.com/tickets-info/