The organisers of Liverpool’s Food and Drink Festival are celebrating after both an award-wining and record-breaking event this weekend.

On Thursday 15th September, prior to festival weekend, the team from SK Events picked up the the title of Event of The Year at Downtown Liverpool In Business’s ‘Work Hard, Play Hard’ awards which were held at Hilton Liverpool, beating category nominees Crabbie’s Grand National, Liverpool Sound City, Liverpool International Music Festival and Liverpool International Tennis Tournament.

The following Saturday and Sunday saw the biggest numbers of visitors attend the large-scale food and drink event which has been held in Sefton Park for nine years, with blue skies and high temperatures helping to bring out the crowds.

From early morning, food lovers in their thousands swarmed through the festival’s gates, to enjoy two days of culinary excellence from over 60 of the city’s bars and restaurants, regional street food traders, food and drink producers, plus stands from numerous well-known brands including Ketel One Vodka, Pilsner Urquell and even a showcase of vehicles by Bentley Motorcars.

An estimated 48,000 visitors toured the festival site during the weekend, beating the previous year’s figures – which had been divided into themed zones and included a Good Life area that focused on healthy eating, and included LJMU who launched their ‘waste to waist’ initiative which highlighted the amount of still-usable food that is disposed of everyday and which can be transformed into healthy meals.

Visitors also enjoyed masterclasses from Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain, clean-eating guru Madeleine Shaw and three demonstrations by celebrity chef Gino D’Acampo who also entertained the crowds with a question and answer session, presented by irreverent Bongo’s Bingo club host Jonny Bongo.

The new addition Spirit Theatre showcased favourite drinks included seven gin brands, plus the event’s cocktail competition returned for 2016, as mixologists from nine of the city’s bars competing against each other, with Some Place crowned the overall winner.

Speaking about this year’s event, a festival spokesperson said:

“The last few days have been fantastic. To have been nominated for and to win Event of The Year award amongst such well-regarded city events was testament to how far the festival has come over nine years and the quality of its content – namely the city’s bars and restaurants who continue to support the event by taking part.

“Thanks also must go to our sponsors and of course the festival-goers who came in their thousands, and we hope that everyone had a great time. We’re already well into planning for next year, starting with The Liverpool Food, Drink and Lifestyle Spring Festival on April 15th and 16th, followed by the 10th anniversary celebrations of The Liverpool Food and Drink Festival on September 16th and 17th, and are in discussions with partners on making September Liverpool’s official month of food. It’s all very exciting!”