Tameside Council has announced that Stalybridge Street Feast will be back this year, and this time for an extended 10-month run.

The sixth and final feast of 2021 – a Christmas-themed event in December – proved as popular as ever, convincing the authority to bring it back in March.

Street Feast, the brainchild of Councillor Eleanor Wills, launched in July and was a hit from the start.

Since then it has got bigger and better, constantly attracting large crowds into Armentieres Square and Stalybridge town centre, and spreading into the civic hall.

The event, which is run by Tameside Council’s markets service in partnership with prestigious artisan market organisers The Market Co, will again take place on the second Friday of every month (5pm to 9pm) starting in March and continuing until the end of 2022.

It’s a continental-style street market with stall-holders offering a vast array of mouthwatering food ranging from pizza and paella to ice cream, pancakes and Indian and Malaysian dishes as well as beer and wine.

The interest has been so great that near-by shops and businesses have remained open into the evening to benefit from a welcome increase in trade. The visitors who have poured into Stalybridge have proved eager to sample everything the town has to offer.

Cllr Wills, who represents Dukinfield – Stalybridge ward as well as being Street Feast project lead, said: “While I always expected Street Feast to be a success, I have to admit I’ve been completely bowled over by the way its popularity has grown. Month by month people have been coming into Stalybridge from all over the region to enjoy a relaxed evening of delicious food and drink in historic and picturesque surroundings.

“My intention was to establish a family event that would put Stalybridge firmly on Greater Manchester’s food and drink map, so I’m really pleased that’s been achieved. We’ve now got to keep on improving Street Feast so that people carry on coming back.

“I’d like to thank everyone who’s helped in making Street Feast such a huge success, and Tameside Council for recognising its potential. Here’s to a great return next March.”

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