Worthing Food and Drink Festival to go ahead - with some key changes in light of death of Queen Elizabeth II

Two-days of ‘fantastic food and drink’ has been planned for Saturday and Sunday (September 10 and 11) at Steyne Gardens, from 10am until 5pm.

Click here to see pictures from last year’s event.

Consideration was given to the idea of cancelling the free-entry event after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, announced on Thursday evening (September 8).

Take a look back at her life here.

Restaurateur Andy Sparsis, who is the director of the Worthing Town Centre Initiative and helped to organise the food and drink festival, said: “We are all devastated [about the Queen’s death].

"Every business here wants to be respectful.

“The festival is going to be changed. We are cancelling the chilli eating competition.

"We are cancelling a lot of the live music.

"We are going to change that for the minute’s silence, the national anthem and the reading out of messages from dignitaries around the world.”

Andy said the food festival is ‘the perfect place’ for people to congregate and mourn the Queen’s death.

“People want somewhere to go and show their emotions,” he added.

"That’s what we are trying to provide.

"The food festival is a perfect open space, where the public can come and mourn or reflect as a group of congregation of people.

"We are hoping reflect the town’s mood in our festival."

The food, sourced from local businesses, had already been prepared for the event before the announcement of the Queen’s death.

“Thousands of tonnes of fresh food will only be destroyed if it isn’t sold this weekend,” Andy said.

"A lot of businesses will suffer financially. We are trying to have a balanced, respectful event.

"We are not having a party and not here just for the money.

"We are here because we have invested already in the town and the event.

"We’ve got more than 90 stalls. Each one will lose around £1,000 worth of stock, so that’s more than £90,000 of food that could go to waste.”

Andy wanted to thank Worthing Borough Council’s deputy leader, Carl Walker, for helping to ensure the event went ahead.

"I called him this morning, basically begging him,” Andy said. “In a few hours, he got the answers and the approval.

"I have to say he stepped up and made it clear he was supporting the businesses and didn’t want them to lose money.”

Adur and Worthing Councils confirmed on social media that The Big Listen team will not attend the festival at Steyne Gardens.

The scheme was set up as a new approach to how the councils ‘work with the community on the issues you care most about’. Click here to read more.

A spokesperson said: “Apologies to those who had been planning to speak to us there.

"A list of events we will be at is here: https://adur-worthing.gov.uk/the-big-listen/.”

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