Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 September 2025
They were literally dancing in the streets in Cockermouth this weekend as Taste Cumbria food festival rocked the town once more.
Now in its 16th year, this celebration of food and drink saw thousands of people enjoying the flavours on offer. With 70 producers on stalls in Main Street and Market Place, two music stages including one at Jennings Brewery, and loads more entertainment in the town’s pubs, this was a packed event for all the family.
Sadly, high winds cut the celebrations short on the Sunday, but businesses and traders still reported a brilliantly busy weekend.
Market Place hosted a street party and the Festival Stage with crowds up and dancing on the Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Food producers were texting their teams to say ‘bring me everything you’ve got – and I mean everything’ as they sold out of many product lines. Demonstrations from the teams at SOURCE at Gilpin Hotel, Gilpin Spice and Whitehaven’s private chef Jon Fell attracted plenty of foodies keen to learn from the experts and taste the dishes they cooked.
The Taste Cumbria festivals are organised by Cumberland Council and the sponsors and supporters for this event were: Cockermouth Town Council, The Coffee Kitchen Bakery, Jennings Brewery, Milburns Solicitors, Rock With and Cockermouth & District Chamber of Trade.
Councillor Anne Quilter, Cumberland Council’s Executive Member for Vibrant and Healthy Places, said:
“What a brilliant weekend. It was disappointing the forecast changed dramatically overnight and high wind gusts were predicted for Sunday afternoon, so we were forced to make the decision to close early to keep our traders and visitors safe.
“Luckily the weather didn’t spoil the whole weekend as the Saturday was absolutely amazing. Traders were dipping into their next days’ stock to satisfy demand from hungry shoppers, the hot food traders were selling out, and the pubs and cafes were crammed with people eating, drinking and enjoying everything Cockermouth has to offer.
Photo credits: Tom Kay
“Thank you to everyone who visited, to the town’s businesses for joining in the fun, and to the traders who support us every year by applying for stalls. Thank you also to our incredible event team and contractors who pull out all the stops to put on these festivals and shine a light on the county’s fabulous produce.”
Thank you to all the experts who appeared on The Demo Stage this weekend. Jon Fell, the private chef who appeared on Sunday, has kindly shared his seafood recipes with you here: https://www.jonfellchef.net/demo-recipes
He gets his fresh seafood, caught off the Cumbria coast, from the Chelaris fishing boat, one of our Taste Cumbria Maryport traders – another great local collaboration!
FRIDAY 25 SEPTEMBER – 7PM – 9PM
The Friday Night Chill Out, Market Place – live music, hot food, cold drinks
SATURDAY 26 SEPTEMBER – 10AM – 5PM
SUNDAY 27 SEPTEMBER – 10AM – 1PM
Main Street
Producers’ stalls
The Demo Stage
Hot food
Hot and cold drinks
The Market Place Street Party
The Festival Stage
Hot food
Al fresco beers from the pubs
Picnic area
Jennings Brewery
The Jennings Stage
Brewery tours
Hot food
Cold drinks
Picnic area
Family activities
Around the town
Great shopping, eating and drinking – discover more on the Cockermouth Town website
THE FESTIVAL STAGE
MARKET PLACE
FRIDAY 25 SEPTEMBER
7pm – Char
8pm – Somethin’ Brewin’
SATURDAY 26 SEPTEMBER
10:30am – Ged Hagan
11:15am – Stephen Dunn
12pm– Cindy Hoten
1pm – Delta Geckos
2pm – Funbus
3pm – Daz DJ Set
4pm – Carmen Brown Jenkins
SUNDAY 27 SEPTEMBER
11am – Char
12pm – Tom Salmon
1pm–2:45pm – High Dynamics (Double Set)
THE JENNINGS STAGE
JENNINGS BREWERY
SATURDAY 26 SEPTEMBER
12pm – Thomas MacGregor
1pm – Jonathan Gash & special guest
2pm – Genie & Elise
SUNDAY 27 SEPTEMBER
12pm – Dale Stephenson
1pm – Jonathan Gash & Paul Nicholson
2pm – Cindy Hoten
3pm – Kerry Weir
If you run a business in Cockermouth or the outlying villages and would like to be featured on our big digital screen over Taste Cumbria weekend – please send logos, videos or graphics to ellie.jones@cumberland.gov.uk before 15th September
No size restrictions but please send high res versions where possible!
IT IS COMPLETELY FREE
Kick start your Taste Cumbria weekend with a Friday night chill-out – a little wind down from the working week to get you in the mood for the festival ahead. Join us on Market Place from 7pm to 9pm on Friday 26 September for food, live music and cold drinks. We’ll provide some seating but you could bring your own camping chairs too.
Aupa StreetFood will be selling their locally-sourced smash burgers and loaded fries, while Market Place businesses will also be serving and are happy for you to take your food and drink outside. Castle Bar, Seths Bar, Fermentos, Yummies Waffles and Shake, Blocks Steakhouse, Allerdale Court Hotel, Crooked River Brewing Co, The Market Place Print Studio and Market Place 41 will all be open that evening.
You could even bring your own picnic or grab a takeaway from elsewhere in town, but please leave your booze at home and buy from the Market Place premises. Award-winning vocalist Luke Matear, who you will recognise from previous Taste Cumbria festivals, will be performing some classics too.
So start your Taste Cumbria Cockermouth weekend in style with some great tunes, good company and a few beers on what we hope will be a fantastic relaxed evening out.
Live Music and Events
Venue: Demonstration Kitchen on Main Street
Date: September 27 Time: 4:30pm
Join Matt Reed at Come In and Get Your Tea, a live, comedy cookery show where professional chefs team up with familiar faces to recreate their favourite (or not so favourite) childhood teas. Matt is as pleasant as he is wonderfully brutal, and Come in and Get Your Tea combines nostalgia with one of the funniest and quick-witted comics on the circuit.
SATURDAY 26 SEPTEMBER
12pm – Kevin Scanlan, SOURCE at Gilpin Hotel Head Chef – Seafood Chowder
1pm – Manon Plouffe of Wild Zucchinis – Cockermouth’s colourful French Canadian chef
2pm – Ralph Rojas, Gilpin Spice Head Chef – Sushi Masterclass
3pm – Shubha Sachin – co-owner of Dosa Chaska, Cockermouth’s authentic Indian cookery cafe
SUNDAY 27 SEPTEMBER
12pm – Jon Fell, Private Chef & BBC Cumbria resident culinary expert – from the Cumbrian coast to the plate
DELI STATION – Main St (near Wordsworth House
2pm – Ashleigh Hall, Chef and Owner of Deli Station café and street food, Cockermouth – crafting the perfect Eggs Benedict
We’re thrilled that Jennings Brewery is back in business and will be an addition to the Taste Cumbria Cockermouth locations this year.
Jennings’ recent history is a story of local revival. In 2025 the brewery opened again, returning to local, independent, family ownership after two decades as a brand of Carlsberg that ultimately suffered closure in 2022. Closure was devastating for the town, but brewing is returning to the historic site in Cockermouth, Cumbria and we are beginning the long journey back to becoming a cherished Cumbrian icon! There’s lots of work to do to restore the full former glory, but a small passionate team around is focussed on bringing that heritage back to life.
The Taproom has now been open to the public since early July 2025 and some of those favourite Jennings beers have returned. Brewery tours are also coming back this September, giving you an insight to the brewing processes and history of Jennings. Community, culture, beer and heritage are at the heart of the new Jennings brewery team.
Cockermouth’s Taste Cumbria festival will be followed by the Taste Cumbria Christmas Festival taking place on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 December 2026.
Getting here
If you’re coming to our festivals by car, here’s a handy link to some of the car parks in Cockermouth. If you’re parking on the street, please check local signs for restrictions. You’ll need a timing disc to park at the roadside – these are available from local businesses.
