The message from Ludlow Food Festival this year is stark. Support us this weekend or there may not be a festival next year.
The organisers say rising costs are putting the independent festival under increasing financial pressure: “We may not be in a position to go forward next year. That’s why this year matters so much.”
It is a use it or lose it message.
Ludlow Food Festival began in 1995 and is the UK’s original and longest-running food and drink festival. At its peak, more than 20,000 people crowded into Ludlow Castle over the three days. The current figure is around 12,000. The organisers are estimating that 17,000 people will visit Ludlow over this festival weekend.
It has also become a smaller festival.
Those of us who remember its heyday will recall a festival that took over the town. Stalls lined the streets. Around 2,000 people took part in the famous Sausage Trail, walking between Ludlow’s butchers. More than 1,000 followed the Ale Trail around local pubs. There were other trails and markets. The Castle was at the heart of the festival but the festival belonged to the whole town.
Much of that has gone. The Sausage Trail disappeared in 2024 and the festival is now much more concentrated inside the Castle.
At the same time, admission has become more expensive. In 2009, it cost £7 to enter the Castle, about £11 in today’s money. This weekend, adult admission on the gate is £18 on Friday and Sunday and £20 on Saturday. Some workshops and experiences cost extra: £10 for gyoza workshops, £14 for butchery/fire cooking, £18 for some fire cooking sessions.
The finances are concerning. Ludlow Marches Food and Drink Festival had net assets of £140,632 at the end of 2022. By the end of 2025 they had fallen to £53,783. That is a reduction of nearly £87,000 (62%) in three years. The published company accounts do not provide enough detail to separate the September Food Festival from the organisation’s other events. But clearly the current model is under pressure.
Ludlow Food Festival has played a huge part in establishing our town’s national reputation for good food and drink. Losing it after more than three decades would be a major blow.
Thirty-one years after its foundation, Ludlow is competing with well over 100 food festivals around Britain. It has gone from creating a market to competing in a crowded one. Can it survive?
Statement from the Ludlow Marches Food and Drink Festival
We wanted to be honest with you about the future of the festival.
Like many independent events, Ludlow Food Festival is facing significant rising costs. We have worked incredibly hard to create an exciting and expanded programme for 2026, with more free demonstrations, activities and experiences designed to give visitors even greater value for money.
But despite all of that, the financial pressures facing the festival mean that we may not be in a position to go forward next year.
That’s why this year matters so much.
If Ludlow Food Festival means something to you, as a visitor or volunteer, this is the year to come along and support it, if you can.
Ludlow Food Festival is the UK’s original and longest-running food and drink festival. For more than three decades, it has championed independent producers and brought thousands of people together to celebrate the extraordinary food and drink of the Marches and beyond.
We don’t want to say goodbye to something that has been such an important part of Ludlow for so long.