Chow Down food festival confirms permanent home at Leeds Temple Arches

The food festival, which has been hugely popular since it launched in summer 2020, was originally held as a pop-up.

Before that it had been held at cities and towns across the country, including Halifax' s Piece Hall.

Initially set for a ten-week temporary residency at Temple Arches, it was so successful that it added more dates, including a winter series which was sadly cancelled due to the pandemic.

Organisers at Chow Down have today announced that the festival will settle at Temple Arches permanently.

The settlement will allow it to offer even more to its punters in the future - starting off with the launch of its own brand new cocktail bar, Tipples.

Tipples will launch on the festival's first birthday weekend on July 22 to 25.

Chow Down has also been picked to host the Northern heat of the British Street Food Awards over the weekend of August 19 to 22.

The finalists for the heats will be announced in the next week, alongside the judges.

Director of New Citizens & Co-Founder of Chow Down, Matt Long, said: "This area of Leeds has some amazing plans for the future and we can’t wait to be a part of that.

"It's been incredible to see Chow Down grow over the last year, and cement itself as a permanent venue at Temple Arches.

"Alongside Chow Down, we (New Citizens) have great projects in the Temple area, with Oktoberfest and The Garden Party, so we feel very much a part of this exciting transformation.

"At Chow Down we have looked to support as many independent food traders as possible, and this year to date we have had over 50 vendors trade with us, helping out and actually kickstarting many of the hospitality scenes as we rotate the food as much as possible.

"Our drink supply is very much as local as possible, and is ever-rotating. We are planning some more collaboration brews on the menu for later in the year, after the huge success of our North Brew Co beer this summer.”

Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Leeds City Council’s executive member for Economy, Culture and Education: “It’s been great to see so many people enjoying Chow Down over the past year and for the event to have given the city a much-needed lift through some difficult times.

"Innovative events like this exemplify how incredibly resilient and imaginative our local business community has been, and we’re pleased to see Chow Down continuing over what will hopefully be a memorable summer for the city.”

James Milson, Property Manager at CEG, said: “Temple and CEG wish Chow Down a Happy First Birthday at Temple Arches.

"Having started out in unprecedented and challenging times, it’s been an exceptional transformation of the Temple Arches site, bringing new energy and life to the area.

"The Temple Team looks forward to partnering with Chow Down and the New Citizens team for years to come, as the development of Temple District continues!”

Bookings for July are open now with tickets for August going on sale soon.

Visit Chow Down here: https://chowdownevents.co.uk/