Shrewsbury Food Festival has announced a new partnership with Shrewsbury Prison, which will see Sunday ticket holders get a free ticket to visit the famous local prison.

Shrewsbury Food Festival is taking place in the Quarry on 28-29 June with around 180 exhibitors, a live music stage, family entertainment stage, street food, bars, chef demonstrations, tastings, a field to fork zone, and a whole area of free kids’ activities in the Cornovii Developments Family area. The event has been crowned ‘Festival of the Year’ at the West Midlands Tourism Awards for two consecutive years.

Shropshire Festivals has teamed up with Shrewsbury Prison to offer anyone attending on the Sunday of Shrewsbury Food Festival, free entry to Shrewsbury Prison on a date in 2025.

The 200 year old jail has featured in film and TV shows, including Disney+’s latest thriller, The Stolen Girl. Sunday ticket holders will be given a voucher to redeem on arrival at the festival.

Beth Heath from Shropshire Festivals said, “Although lots of people are keen to come to our charity concert on Saturday 28 June, there are some fabulous reasons to attend on Sunday 29 June too – and a free ticket to Shrewsbury Prison is one of them! This is a really generous offer from Shrewsbury Prison, providing two great days out for the price of one. Thank you so much to the team for working with us to give our Sunday visitors an extra treat.

“Visitors can also enjoy a dirty Sunday lunch at the festival! Adam Purnell, the Shropshire Lad, will be serving up a Fire Roasted Beef Sarnie made from Dexter Beef, which will have been roasted over a wood fire for 24 hours on day one of the festival. You can place your order via our tickets page now.”

Great British Bake Off finalist, Christiaan de Vries, will be joining top chefs and bakers leading demonstrations on the Coforge Chef Demo Stage, including Anton Mortiboys, Anna Christoforou, Tat Effby, Rob Gibson, Stuart Collins, and James Sherwin. Local chefs and producers, including Suki Pantal, Steve the Hungry Guy, Tim Franklin and Scott Woodland, will lead sessions on the new Monks Teach and Taste Stage.

The Kitchen Depot Kids Cookery School will be run by Katie’s Kids Kitchen, with sessions for budding chefs aged 4 to 12 years old.

Beth adds, “We’ve held Shrewsbury Food Festival annually since 2013, but it feels bigger, better and fresher than ever before this year. I can’t wait to see how all the new elements are enjoyed. Whether you want to drink locally produced beers or spirits, taste amazing food, peruse stands in The Darwin Exhibitor Area, listen to live music, entertain the kids all day long with free activities and performances, or learn about food and farming in the Field to Fork Area, there’s something for everyone.

“Thank you to all the businesses who are supporting the event, including Start Tech, Cartwrights Waste Disposal, Reclaim Tax, Tiny Swimming, and Aaron and Partners. I’m really pleased to welcome Different Dog this year, who will be taking care of your four-legged friends in the Dog Creche.”

Shrewsbury Food Festival is on 28-29 June in the Quarry. Buy tickets at shrewsburyfoodfestival.co.uk