Stafford shops opening - Turning into a boom town?

Really?

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Anyone know if the Cheese & Ale Festival is actually on tomorrow? The publicity for it seems to have been non-existent.
saw very little cheese or wine but plenty of other food, I would guess the other food outlets in town were not impressed
 

Wormella

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saw very little cheese or wine but plenty of other food, I would guess the other food outlets in town were not impressed

We went into town with the view to eating at a food stall, but we're unimpressed by the choices so ended up elsewhere in town for lunch so I suspect they've done alright out of it - it did seem smaller than last year, but there seemed to be different people today and yesterday judging from the social media posts I saw.

It's the same people who run grubclub and the other food festivals so I'm guessing there may be a bit of marquee fatigue going on these days, with monthly makers markets and farmers markets to boot.
 

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
I see the car dealer nobody asked for has finally opened their doors on the old Frankie & Benny’s

Still haven’t put that tree back up, to nobody’s surprise.
 

Floss

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We’re so lucky to have all these different events in our town and to see new businesses opening up, it gives the consumer so much choice.
 

markpa12003

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I went to the cheese and ale festival on sunday this year. I enjoyed it. The quality of beer from Beats Brewery was fantastic, plus there was joules brewery

(Struggle to understand why anyone would go to the marston's stand when you have the choice of the other two breweries either side).

I had some food from one of the stalls - it was fantastic.

My only criticisms of this years festival was the lack of cheese stalls, I counted 3 or 4. Maybe next year it should be called the food and ale festival. I would also like to see more local stalls and produce being sold.

In the past did they have 'talks' on sunday. I usually go on a Saturday and they have fantastic talks and cooking demonstrations. I assume the same happened this year?
 

SCFC12

A few posts under my belt
When I was at the uni I always thought if someone built a store there they’d make bank. The campus shop was incredibly overpriced so people would happily have walked the very short distance for much lower prices

Its in the town plan as earmarked for housing, so depends whether that's flexible I guess
 

Really?

Well-Known Forumite
I went to the cheese and ale festival on sunday this year. I enjoyed it. The quality of beer from Beats Brewery was fantastic, plus there was joules brewery

(Struggle to understand why anyone would go to the marston's stand when you have the choice of the other two breweries either side).

I had some food from one of the stalls - it was fantastic.

My only criticisms of this years festival was the lack of cheese stalls, I counted 3 or 4. Maybe next year it should be called the food and ale festival. I would also like to see more local stalls and produce being sold.

In the past did they have 'talks' on sunday. I usually go on a Saturday and they have fantastic talks and cooking demonstrations. I assume the same happened this year?

Neither Beats or Joules are even in Staffordshire, let alone local. At least Marston's are Staffordshire

I just do not understand what a hog roast and chip butty stall and the like are doing at a Cheese and Wine festival. We have plenty of good quality eateries in the town who actually contribute to the town without them losing out. I am pretty sure that when it was announced it was specifically CHEESE and WINE, not Beer and Chip Butties - not that there is anything wrong with beer and chip butties in themselves. I understand the mantra "it brings people into town" but that only works if they actually return to town and spend more money at a later date. Travelling to Stafford to line the pockets of a Stourbridge brewery is not much use to the local economy (and before you start I doubt they stayed in hotels - I suppose they may have given the Council some Car Park monies)
 

markpa12003

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Joules Brewery originated in Stone and have a strong local presence, however I was disappointed that there wasn't a slaters and / or lymstone brewery stand.

The Marston's name originates from Staffordshire but it was brought out by Wolverhampton and Dudley breweries which has their headquarters in Wolverhampton. Not sure how much of their current brewery operations are now staffordshire based. Notwithstanding this, I'd rather the festival promotes small / niche breweries rather than a national brewery which marston's has now come. Besides the beer is now average at best.
 

bunique

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In previous years there’s been loads of cheese at the festival, though no idea if they were local. Did it coincide with something else this time around? We didn’t make it there this year.
 

Thehooperman

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Neither Beats or Joules are even in Staffordshire, let alone local. At least Marston's are Staffordshire

I just do not understand what a hog roast and chip butty stall and the like are doing at a Cheese and Wine festival. We have plenty of good quality eateries in the town who actually contribute to the town without them losing out. I am pretty sure that when it was announced it was specifically CHEESE and WINE, not Beer and Chip Butties - not that there is anything wrong with beer and chip butties in themselves. I understand the mantra "it brings people into town" but that only works if they actually return to town and spend more money at a later date. Travelling to Stafford to line the pockets of a Stourbridge brewery is not much use to the local economy (and before you start I doubt they stayed in hotels - I suppose they may have given the Council some Car Park monies)


Was it not a cheese and ale festival as per the ad? No mention of local vineyards or brewerys so any ale would be permissible, even lovely Marstons. It's not a local festival for local people you know :)

The lack of cheese would be a disappointment but I wouldn't expect any wine necessarily at an ale festival.

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markpa12003

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I enjoyed the festival, I just felt it was a missed opportunity not to showcase local beers / produce to those visiting the festival. It would also make it more unique.
 

Noah

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Joules Brewery originated in Stone

Strictly Joules in Stone was taken over by Bass and closed. The Joules in Market Drayton does not have much connection with the Stone original apart from the name and the claim that the aquifer beneath Market Drayton is the same as the one beneath Stone - although the water does have a slightly different mineral content. Like Joules, Beat Brewery is not that far from Staffordshire - in Stourbridge (There is a Bad Beat Brewery but that is further away - in Las Vegas). It is disappointing if there was no Staffordshire brewery present, there are over 30 to choose from.
 

BobClay

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I seem to remember back in my bitter drinking days Joules ales (from the Stone brewery) had a reputation of varying in quality according to the weather. (This would be the days of pub cellars and handomatic pumps.)

Alas I stopped drinking bitter some years back following a difficult incident of having to put my pelvis back in the next day. :pint::eek:
 
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