The York Food and Drink Festival: A Guide to Eating Well in York

Ten days of Yorkshire produce, street food and cooking demonstrations — 18 to 27 September 2026

For ten days each September, Parliament Street stops being a thoroughfare and becomes a kitchen. Marquees go up, the smell of frying onions and woodsmoke drifts past the Minster, and around a hundred producers set out cheese, pies, bread, gin and chocolate for the best part of a fortnight. The York Food and Drink Festival is the largest event of its kind in Yorkshire, and it is one of the nicest weeks of the year to be in the city.

This year it runs from Friday 18 to Sunday 27 September 2026.

Where the festival happens

The heart of it is Parliament Street, in the middle of the city centre and about five minutes' walk from almost anywhere inside the walls. The market spreads from there into St Sampson's Square next door, with additional stands appearing at weekends in the Market Hall and at St Crux Hall on Pavement, by the top of the Shambles.

It is a walking festival rather than a fenced-off site. There are no gates and no wristbands — you wander in off the street, and the whole thing is threaded through the ordinary business of the city. That is much of its charm, and it is also the reason staying centrally makes such a difference: you can drop in for an hour, go back to the flat with a bag of cheese, and come out again in the evening.

Entry is free. Only the trails and a small number of ticketed events cost anything.

What to expect

The full 2026 programme is published on the festival's website closer to the time, but the shape of the week is reliable from year to year.

The producers' market is the main event, open daily from around 10am to 5pm. This is the part to bring a tote bag for: Yorkshire cheese, cured meats, pork pies, sourdough, preserves, honey, chocolate and a great deal else, much of it made within an hour's drive. Sellers are generous with samples and genuinely happy to talk about what they make.

Street food runs alongside it, and is where lunch happens. Expect Thai, Indian, Italian, Mexican and a rotating cast of Yorkshire street-food regulars, all designed to be eaten standing up with a paper napkin.

Cooking demonstrations take place through the afternoons at St Sampson's. Recent years have brought a strong line-up of chefs from Yorkshire's best kitchens — well worth half an hour in a seat, particularly if the weather turns.

The Food Factory is the hands-on counterpart: free workshops in bread making, pasta, smoking and similar, at Museum Gardens and St Crux. Sessions are first come, first served, and popular with families.

The Taste Trails are the festival's cleverest idea. You buy a booklet, and it takes you on a self-guided walk around the city stopping at delis, cafés, restaurants and producers for a sample at each. Booklets are picked up from the information point on Parliament Street, tickets are limited each day, and they are well worth booking ahead.

The bars and live music keep things going once the market closes. St Sampson's Square and the Entertainment Marquee both serve into the evening — York Gin, real ale, Yorkshire cider — with live music staged in support of St Leonard's Hospice.

Making the most of the ten days

A few things a local would tell you.

Come on a weekday if you can. The two weekends are busy in a way the middle of the week simply is not. Tuesday and Wednesday give you room to talk to the producers, which is the best part.

Go early for shopping, late for atmosphere. Stalls are freshest and least crowded at 10am. From about 5pm the character changes entirely as the bars fill and the music starts.

Don't eat before you arrive. It sounds obvious. People still do it.

Bring a bag and some cash. Most traders take cards, but not all, and the good bread goes before lunch.

Eating well in York the rest of the year

The festival exists because York's food scene is worth celebrating. If you're visiting outside September, or want a proper sit-down meal between market visits, these are the places worth planning around.

For a special dinner, Roots on Marygate holds a Michelin star under Tommy Banks, with a tasting menu built on Yorkshire produce and preservation. Le Cochon Aveugle on Walmgate serves an ambitious blind tasting menu in a tiny room, and Melton's — whose owner, Michael Hjort, also directs the food festival — has been quietly excellent for over three decades.

For something more relaxed, Skosh on Micklegate holds a Bib Gourmand for small plates that borrow freely from everywhere, and Los Moros does excellent North African cooking — now on Grape Lane, though the original stall still trades in the Shambles Market food court.

Fossgate and Walmgate together make York's best eating street: The Hairy Fig for a deli counter that rewards browsing, and a run of independent restaurants and bars along their length.

Bishopthorpe Road — Bishy Road to everyone here — is where locals actually shop. Pig & Pastry for brunch, The Good Food Shop for a deli lunch, Trinacria for gelato, and a genuinely independent high street around them.

For a drink, York Gin and Brew York both make their own and both welcome visitors; The Blue Bell on Fossgate is the smallest and most perfectly preserved pub in the city.

And for something to take home, York Cocoa Works on Castlegate makes chocolate on site, and Bluebird Bakery is the loaf worth queuing for.

Where to stay in York

The festival is a walking event, so where you stay genuinely matters — being able to drop your shopping off and come back out is the difference between a good day and a tiring one. Late September is also a lovely time to be here: the summer crowds have gone, the light is good, and the city feels like itself again.

At Violet Homes we look after a collection of apartments and houses across York, all within comfortable walking distance of the city centre and Parliament Street. Having a kitchen also means everything you buy at the market can become dinner, which is rather the point.

Booking direct with us is always the best rate — there's no booking-site commission to pay, so the saving comes to you rather than a third party, and you're dealing with a local team who can tell you where to eat as well as where to stay.

Have a look at our properties, or get in touch and tell us what you need.