Enjoy music and munchies at Rochdale’s food festival

Date published: 07 March 2019

It’s not just about the food at this month’s Rochdale Food & Drink Festival on Saturday 16 March, there’s a menu of live music to keep you entertained while you tuck into and enjoy the mouth-watering fare. 

An outdoor stage with a covered seating area outside Rochdale Town Hall will run throughout the day featuring a host of acts.

Opening the stage at 12.00pm will be Rochdale’s Joe Dunne. The talented singer/songwriter who played the main stage at Rochdale Feel Good Festival in 2017.

Joe will be followed at 1.00pm by the return of Hashtag, a Rochdale-based acoustic quartet who specialise in their own versions of classic tracks by the likes of Bowie, T-Rex, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and more.

At 2.00pm look out for Rochdale singer/songwriter Katie O’Malley.  A familiar face on the Manchester music scene and popular at festivals across the UK, she's supported top 10 album selling Beth Rowley, country star Kimmie Rhodes, played alongside Aziz Ibrahim (Stone Roses, Simply Red) and worked with award-winning producer Simon Dine (Paul Weller, Noonday Underground).

At 3.00pm making their festival debut will be 25th Hour – a new young indie/ rock band from Heywood, Bury and Swinton, who play a mix of their own music together with classic cover versions.

From 4.00pm don’t miss southern rock style country duo Between the Vines. Lead singer/songwriter Rebecca Whitehead released her debut album in 2014 - an eclectic mix of hip hop, R&B and dance.

Television chef Dean Edwards, star foodie Andrew Nutter, BBC Fusion chef Aazam Ahmad, local Thai chef Noo Meenan, Austin Hopley from The Baum and Adolfus Lewis from The Hare on the Hill will be cooking in the Festival Kitchen sponsored by Quirky Catering. 

On the indoor Family Stage Mr Bloom from CBeebies will be performing his one man show.

Whilst his first two shows are sold out, there are tickets available for his recently added 3.30pm show.

Also, for families with young children there will be Shake, Rattle and Roll workshops at 12:15pm and 2:30pm, and children’s cookery classes by Little Hens at 11.30am, 12.30pm, 1.30pm, 2.30pm and 3.30pm for ages 2-10.

For older children, the Mad Science team will be hosting spectacular free workshops in their outdoor tent, featuring amazing food related science experiments and a lot of fun.

There’ll be an outside food and drink village, an indoor seating area to watch chef demonstrations on a big screen, themed foodie workshops plus live music and activities, with lots to offer from nearby local pubs, bars and restaurants, including Defiance Gin and sausage tastings in the Medicine Tap’s brand new Vault Cocktail Bar.