James Martin praises Bolton Food and Drink Festival's 'amazing' response to Storm Lilian

James Martin made history at Bolton Food and Drink Festival this weekend by attending the popular event for the 17th year.

The food festival returned to Bolton over the Bank Holiday weekend with a cram-packed line-up featuring food stalls, live shows and celebrity appearances. Whilst the first day of the event had to be postponed altogether due to the impacts of Storm Lilian, the event was able to continue as normal from Saturday until Monday.

Now hailed as the most appearances a celebrity has ever made at the festival, chef James took to the stage at the Albert Halls venue in the town centre for three live cooking demonstrations on Monday (August 26).

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The demos saw James, 52, make four courses in the space of 45 minutes - including two meat dishes, a soup and a dessert that he hailed as being ‘accessible, quick, nice and fun’ recipes.

Whilst appearing at the festival, James also took time to walk around the town centre and to talk to some of the traders taking part in this year’s event. Last year, he invited the Horwich-based Vegan Infinity onto his James Martin's Saturday Morning show after sampling their vegan cakes.

He explained: “They blew me away last year when I bumped into them and eight weeks later, they were on the show.” Speaking about the magic of the festival, James added: “It is a privilege to come and do this festival every year – it’s a staple in my diary and I love it.

“It’s the people who make it. Local producers, suppliers and the organising team – they still have the same passion as they did 17 years ago when it started as just a few little pop up tents in Victoria Square .”

James said, when he has a chance, is also often on the lookout for