ONE of the few events not to be called off because of the the pitter patter of raindrops this summer was the Liverpool Food & Drink Festival.

Well it did help that the clouds stayed away this time, and last weekend “Sefton Park was transformed into an epicurean feast”, according to organisers SK Events - rather than the mud pie bath that blighted Africa Oye in June and the somewhat ironically named Creamfields which, this year, was anything but.

More than 30,000 food lovers descended on the park, they say, to enjoy food from more than 70 of the city’s top restaurants, bars and cafes, as well as 50 local producers.  

Fans of Saturday Kitchen were undoubtedly awed by a "celebrity chef" line up that included Paul Hollywood, Lisa Faulkner, Tom Kitchin, Aiden Byrne, The Fabulous Baker Brothers, Norman Musa, Jay Tinker and Kevin Woodford.   

One of the weekend’s highlights was the Great Merseyside Bake Off, which took place on a replica set of the Great British Bake Off.  After three gruelling heats, Thomas Sumner, a 31 year old civil servant from Netherton, took the biscuit - without making heavy weather of it, of course.

Pictures here. Main pic, top, by Stuart Ian Burns.