HERE'S a welcome press release from Cityco and BID. Our comment follows in the yellow box after the story.
Guerrilla Eats, Manchester’s mobile street food festival, will host a one-day street food market on Saturday 25 May on King Street in Manchester city centre.
Bringing Guerrilla Eats to the city centre means we can share our passion for high quality street food.
In total ten stalls will be selling a variety of hot and cold food from 12 noon – 9pm including the Fire & Salt BBQ Co., Tea & Crumpet Emporium and Pancake Corner. There will be hotdogs from Dirty Dogs, gourmet burgers courtesy of Barnhouse Bistro, Chaat Cart selling Indian street food, wood fired pizzas from Streatza and Chorlton’s Free Shake Co. who will be selling innovative, dairy-free milkshakes. To wash the food down with, Guerrilla Eats will be offering a craft beer tent and there will be live music and entertainment throughout the day.
All the local traders involved in Guerrilla Eats use high quality, mostly locally sourced produce, all prepared from scratch and cooked to order and at affordable prices.
Simon Binns, BID manager for CityCo, Manchester’s city centre management company said: “This is the biggest Guerrilla Eats event so far and in the most high profile location. This initiative is supported by the city’s retailers as part of our on-going work to animate King Street, which is at the centre of the city’s shopping district. By hosting events like this, we can make King Street an even more attractive and vibrant place to shop.”
Sarah Tarmaster from Guerrilla Eats says: "Bringing Guerrilla Eats to the city centre means we can share our passion for high quality street food. We’re changing the idea of street food from sweaty kebabs to honest, vibrant, high quality, affordable food. This is our biggest event to date and the first time we’ve included live music so it's certainly going to be the best. We have nine local trader taking part plus a super special guest. Guerilla Eats is about incubating the best new talent and making street food accessible to everyone, not just the 'foodies'. Come greedy, leave full."
To find out about Guerrilla Eats events go to www.guerrillaeats.co.uk. Follow Guerrilla Eats on Twitter @guerrilla_eats with the hashtag for the event #guerillatakeover or like the Facebook page.
Confidential comment
Guerrilla Eats is exactly the sort of initiative King Street and its faded glory needs. It needs animation, dynamism, life. It needs creative thought.
This event should be the start of something.
It should be the start of a change of direction for King Street into a modern flexible theatre for a range of activities including food and drink.
The only downside is the duration of Guerrilla Eats. One day is not enough. Why not Friday evening to Sunday? Very strange.
But let's be thankful for small mercies.
Ten years ago officials in the Town Hall and cobweb covered letting agents and landlords on King Street would never have contemplated a food market on King Street.
It took a while for the Christmas markets to arrive here. This is a fresh idea taking place outside the festive season.
King Street needs more ideas, more innovative thought. In July Manchester International Festival arrives, what can we dream up to enliven King Street during that period?
