Crowds turn out for feast

Sep 17 2007 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

THOUSANDS of people turned out for the second Hope Street Feast, and organisers said it was the perfect way to welcome in the start of the cultural season.

Scheduled to coincide with the end of the city’s Food and Drink Fortnight, the festival was a grand celebration of local talent and enterprise around the Hope Street/Hardman Street area.

This year, double the length of Hope Street was cordoned off to allow people to enjoy the 54 stalls selling food and crafts.

Last night, the event’s organiser, Philharmonic Hall executive director Simon Glinn, said: “This is the start of the cultural season that will see in the start of the ‘08 celebrations.”

Nick Stanley, of the Hope Street Feast Asso- ciation, added: “The event has gone splend- idly. Exactly the right number of people on the street, and it has been very calm and easy.”

The focus point was the Philharmonic Hall, which staged a free- admission open day featuring a host of special performances, including three short concerts by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by its principal conductor, Vasily Petrenko.

Other venues, restaurants and shops were also open throughout the day, while there were demonstrations from a host of street performers, including the Shiverpool ghost tour group and the giant Beatles puppets.

The Liverpool and District branch of CAMRA, which has been operating a two-week Liverpool Pubs Passport campaign designed to push its Capital of Real Ale programme, offered free tastings of beers from Merseyside’s growing number of breweries.

Deborah Robb, of North West Fine Foods, said: “Everyone seems to have had a good time; there has been some great food to eat.

“Liverpool has some fantastic chefs.”

davidbartlett