IT IS just days until the gates open for the Chester Food Drink & Lifestyle Festival 2018.

The £5m event, taking place over the Easter Weekend at Chester Racecourse, will feature more than 155 food and drink exhibitors, 32 chef cooking demonstrations, and free cooking classes for adults and children.

It’s almost 20 years ago that Taste Cheshire started this event , staging it at Easter because hoteliers in Chester thought it was a quiet time for the city and something was needed to bring people in.

18 years later every hotel this weekend in and around Chester will be full. The festival has generated more than £90 million in economic benefit for the city and about 500,000 people have enjoyed the delights of quality food and drink from over 150 different exhibitors each and every year.

This year there are in excess of 1,500 people staying on site, camping as part of Camperfest.

Taste Cheshire was created as a member organisation to help the local food and drink industry and this is done not only once year by staging this iconic festival but also with monthly farmers markets in Town Hall Square and quarterly food fiestas in the Grosvenor Shopping Centre.

At the end of this festival on Wednesday, April 4, Taste Cheshire will crown the winners of the annual Taste Cheshire Awards. More than 40,000 people voted for their favourites.

Guest chefs this year include Paul Rankin, Jun Tanaka and Chris Bavin.

Visit chesterfoodanddrink.co.uk