Farnham Food Festival is Sunday 27 September, 10am to 4pm, at Brightwells Yard. Road closures, free hoppa buses and the nine Taste of Farnham offers, listed.
Farnham Food Festival returns on Sunday 27 September from 10am to 4pm, and this year it moves into Brightwells Yard. Farnham Town Council confirmed the plans on 14 August, alongside a month-long food and drink campaign running through September. (Farnham Town Council, 14 August 2026)
It is the festival’s eighteenth year. More than 100 food and drink traders will set up across Brightwells Yard, The Borough, East Street and the Bush Hotel Courtyard, with entry free. Brightwells Yard, the new site, will also host the cookery demonstration stage; the council says the chef line-up is still to be published. (Farnham Town Council)
The full programme is now out. The council updated its festival page on Monday 21 September and both of the missing pieces have landed: the cookery demonstration line-up, six sessions on the Brightwells stage, and the trader list, more than 100 names sorted into colour-coded zones. Both are below. The live music schedule, published on 11 September, is unchanged. The other named attractions are the Bush Hotel Courtyard off The Borough, where the hotel says there will be live music, alfresco drinks and a curry cooked by its Chef Anthony, and Gold sponsor Kidd Rapinet’s stall in Brightwells Main Square.
The festival is timed to open British Food Fortnight, and the town council describes it as one of the biggest one-day food festivals in the South East.
What is happening the rest of September
Make it Farnham, the town’s Business Improvement District, is running a month-long campaign called Taste of Farnham around the festival. It includes an illustrated food and drink map of participating BID businesses, plus promotions and seasonal menus at cafes, restaurants, pubs and bars through September.
Gemma McBride of Make it Farnham said the BID is “inviting residents and visitors to discover Farnham’s cafes, restaurants, pubs, bars and independent food businesses through special promotions, events and seasonal menus”, and those offers are now published in full, listed below.
Councillor Kika Mirylees, the town council’s Lead Member for Culture and Business, said the festival’s growth “has inspired this exciting partnership with Make it Farnham, enabling us to celebrate our outstanding food and drink businesses for an entire month”.
Make it Farnham, the Bush Hotel and law firm Kidd Rapinet are Gold sponsors. Make it Farnham’s backing comes from the £10,000 the BID committed in August across five town events, which we reported on 11 August.
Taste of Farnham: the offers are published now
When we first wrote this up on 15 August, the BID said its Taste of Farnham promotions would come out through the month on social media. They are now on one page, Taste of Farnham offers, and they run through September rather than only on festival day. Checked 7 September 2026:
| Business | Offer |
|---|---|
| The Castle Pub & Dining | Midweek menu offer |
| Thai Lotusland | Buy one get one free on Thai curries |
| Monte Forte | Free garlic bread starter |
| Teller’s Arms | Celebratory set menu |
| La Dolce Vita | Artisanal gelato offer |
| Tavola Di Famiglia | 15% off the aperitivo menu |
| Megan’s on West Street | Free coffee or tea with every cake |
| Hamilton’s Tea House | £6 special scones, a third of sales to charity |
| The Bush Hotel | Burger night and curry night offer |
Nine businesses, not the whole town, and they are ordinary trading-day offers rather than festival-day ones. If you want the food month without the crowd, a midweek visit before 27 September gets you the offers and an empty Borough. The BID publishes the terms on each business’s own listing, so check the page before turning up expecting a discount.
Why Farnham Food Festival 2026 has moved to Brightwells Yard
The move is not a choice about atmosphere, it is a consequence of the roadworks. The town council’s own stallholder page gives the reason in one line: “Due the current Farnham Infrastructure Programme works, this year’s Farnham Food Festival will be taking place in an alternative location in Farnham Town Centre.” (Farnham Town Council)
Two things follow from that, and both are worth knowing before 27 September.
The council’s two pages do not yet say the same thing. The 14 August news release names Brightwells Yard as the new site and puts the cookery demonstration stage there. The stallholder page, checked on 1 September, still says only that the exact location “will be confirmed in due course”. The news release is the later and more specific of the two, so Brightwells Yard is what to plan around, but anyone reading the stallholder page alone would come away thinking the site is still undecided.
Stall applications have closed. The same page now reads “Applications for this year’s Farnham Food Festival are now closed”, so the trader list is fixed even though it has not been published. Whatever appears on 27 September is already booked.
The Farnham Infrastructure Programme is the two-year Surrey County Council scheme that has been working through the town centre since early 2025, and it is the same programme that shut The Borough between Castle Street and the Royal Deer junction for three months from 5 January this year to widen the pavements and put in a raised crossing and a loading bay. Kidd Rapinet, one of the three Gold sponsors alongside Make it Farnham and the Bush Hotel, is in its fifth year of backing the festival.
The cookery demonstrations, published 21 September
The Brightwells stage runs six sessions, on the hour from 10am, each 45 minutes with a 15 minute turnaround. From Farnham Town Council’s festival page, last updated Monday 21 September 2026.
| Time | Who | What they are cooking |
|---|---|---|
| 10.00 to 10.45 | Ben Harris | Carbonara, done properly |
| 11.00 to 11.45 | Eva Humphries | Crab pasta, using sustainable British crab |
| 12.00 to 12.45 | Ben Piette, Maison Restaurant | Spiced plum and brioche tarte tatin, Cointreau and vanilla clotted cream |
| 13.00 to 13.45 | Ben Harris against Eva Humphries | A Ready Steady Cook style head to head on surprise ingredients from the traders |
| 14.00 to 14.45 | Thai Lotusland | Thai green papaya salad |
| 15.00 to 15.45 | Adam Fisher, The Third Monkey | Sticky beef and bone marrow gougeres, pickled mushrooms, truffle custard |
The one to plan around is 1pm. The head to head between Ben Harris and Eva Humphries uses ingredients picked off the stalls on the day, so it is the only session nobody can rehearse, and it sits in the middle of the busiest hour. The final slot at 3pm is the most ambitious cooking of the day and it finishes fifteen minutes before the festival closes, so it is also the quietest one to get a seat at.
Note the clash with the music: the demonstrations run to 3.45pm on the Brightwells stage while The Gentlemen and Joe Jenkinson are both on from 2.30pm, on East Street and in the Bush Hotel Courtyard. The three sites are a few minutes’ walk apart.
The trader list, and how the site is laid out
The council has published the stallholders as colour-coded zones: purple, blue, white, yellow, orange, red and green, covering more than 100 traders across Brightwells, The Borough, East Street and the Bush Hotel Courtyard. The zone names are on the map on the council’s page rather than tied to street names in the list, so it is worth opening the map on your phone before you arrive.
A sense of what is in the two biggest zones:
- Purple zone, which contains the East Street music stage: Afromufasa, Anicia Kitchen, Bergamia Tea, Churros Ole, La Dolce Vita Farnham, Little Fish, Maame’s, Misty Moon Cider, Monte Forte Farnham, Olive Branch, Thai Lotusland, The Custom Spirit Co., The River Test Distillery, Vesuvio, Vine-yl Wines and Yum Street.
- Blue zone, which contains the toilets: Burrito Street, Crepe Roulette, Greeko Grill, Italian Street Food, Jacc’s Coffee, Ladda Thai Cuisine, Mumbai Street Eats, Saigon Street Food, Street Food Spain, Surrey Ices, Teller’s Arms, The Cookhouse Street Food, The Crafty Brewer, The Curry Man, The Garden Restaurants, The Giggly Pig Co. and Wine That’s Fruit.
Two of the Taste of Farnham businesses, Thai Lotusland and La Dolce Vita, are in the purple zone, and Thai Lotusland is also on the demonstration stage at 2pm, so its September offer, buy one get one free on Thai curries, is worth reading before you queue.
The live music line-up, published 11 September
Two stages, seven acts, both running to 4pm when the festival closes. From Farnham Town Council’s festival page, last updated 11 September 2026:
| Stage | Time | Act |
|---|---|---|
| East Street | 10.00 to 11.30 | Elayna Martin |
| East Street | 11.45 to 12.30 | Will Laborde |
| East Street | 12.45 to 14.15 | The Cherry Pickers |
| East Street | 14.30 to 16.00 | The Gentlemen |
| Bush Hotel Courtyard | 11.00 to 12.30 | Jim Cozens |
| Bush Hotel Courtyard | 12.45 to 14.15 | Haaris Sings |
| Bush Hotel Courtyard | 14.30 to 16.00 | Joe Jenkinson |
Two things fall out of the grid. The East Street stage starts at 10am with the festival, the Bush Hotel Courtyard not until 11am, so the first hour is East Street only. And Will Laborde’s slot is the odd one out at 45 minutes, against 90 minutes for everyone else, which leaves a 15 minute gap on East Street at 12.30 while the Courtyard is mid-set. If you are moving between the two, that is the window.
Roads, buses and parking on the day
The Borough (East) and East Street close from 5am to 8pm. Drivers will still be able to turn right at the bottom of Castle Street onto The Borough (West). The town council’s advice is blunt: the centre will be busy, so avoid driving if you can. (Farnham Town Council)
A free hoppa bus runs from 10am to 4.30pm, every 15 to 20 minutes depending on traffic, on three routes using existing bus stops:
- North Farnham, Hale route: Drovers Way, Hale School, Vicarage Lane, St John’s Church, Farnham Hospital North, Farnham Leisure Centre
- North Farnham, Badshot Lea route: Farnham Hospital, Mill Stream (Elm Tree pub), Beech Tree Drive, Sainsbury’s Water Lane, Farnham Leisure Centre
- South Farnham: The Chantrys, Bardsley Drive, Green Lane, Ridgeway Hill Road, Morley Road, Downing Street
Parking is free that day. All Waverley Borough Council pay and display car parks are free on Sundays, so no ticket is needed for the festival. If you are coming by train, The Borough is about a 10-minute walk from Farnham station.
The monthly Farnham Farmers’ Market runs the same morning in Central Car Park, from 10am to 1pm, so the two events overlap for three hours.
What it means for you
If you drive into the centre on a Sunday morning, plan around the closure rather than the festival hours: The Borough (East) and East Street are shut from 5am, five hours before the first stall opens, and stay shut until 8pm, four hours after the last one packs up. Anyone visiting shops or churches in that area on 27 September needs to allow for it.
If you are going to the festival, the hoppa bus is the cheapest way in and it drops you at the site, but it stops running at 4.30pm, half an hour after the festival closes. The last useful hoppa is the one before that.
For the rest of September, the Taste of Farnham map is the thing to watch for if you want the promotions rather than the crowds. It covers BID businesses in the town centre, not the whole borough.
Frequently asked questions
When is Farnham Food Festival 2026?
Sunday 27 September 2026, 10am to 4pm. It is the festival’s eighteenth year. The roads shut earlier than the festival starts and reopen long after it ends: The Borough (East) and East Street are closed from 5am to 8pm.
Is Farnham Food Festival free?
Yes, entry is free, and so is getting there. The hoppa bus costs nothing, and all Waverley Borough Council pay and display car parks are free on Sundays, so there is no parking charge on the day either.
Where is Farnham Food Festival held in 2026?
Across four areas: Brightwells Yard, which is new this year and hosts the cookery demonstration stage, plus The Borough, East Street and the Bush Hotel Courtyard. More than 100 food and drink stalls are expected across the four.
Who is cooking at Farnham Food Festival 2026?
Six demonstrations on the Brightwells stage, published by the town council on 21 September: Ben Harris at 10.00, Eva Humphries at 11.00, Ben Piette of Maison Restaurant at 12.00, Ben Harris against Eva Humphries in a surprise-ingredient head to head at 13.00, Thai Lotusland at 14.00 and Adam Fisher of The Third Monkey at 15.00. Each session runs 45 minutes.
Has the trader list been published?
Yes, as of 21 September. More than 100 stallholders are listed in seven colour-coded zones across Brightwells, The Borough, East Street and the Bush Hotel Courtyard, with the zone map on the council’s festival page.
Who is playing at Farnham Food Festival 2026?
Seven acts across two stages. East Street has Elayna Martin from 10.00, Will Laborde from 11.45, The Cherry Pickers from 12.45 and The Gentlemen from 14.30. The Bush Hotel Courtyard has Jim Cozens from 11.00, Haaris Sings from 12.45 and Joe Jenkinson from 14.30. Both stages finish at 16.00 with the festival.
What are the Taste of Farnham offers?
Nine Farnham businesses are running them through September: The Castle Pub & Dining, Thai Lotusland, Monte Forte, Teller’s Arms, La Dolce Vita, Tavola Di Famiglia, Megan’s on West Street, Hamilton’s Tea House and The Bush Hotel. They range from a buy-one-get-one-free on Thai curries to 15% off an aperitivo menu, and they are listed on the BID’s Taste of Farnham offers page rather than on the council’s.
Why has Farnham Food Festival moved site this year?
Because of the roadworks. Farnham Town Council’s stallholder page says the festival is in “an alternative location” this year “due the current Farnham Infrastructure Programme works”, the Surrey County Council scheme that has been rebuilding the town centre since early 2025. The council’s 14 August release names the new site as Brightwells Yard, which also takes the cookery demonstration stage.
How do I get to Farnham Food Festival without driving?
The free hoppa bus runs 10am to 4.30pm every 15 to 20 minutes on three routes, from Hale, Badshot Lea and south Farnham, and drops you at the festival. By train, The Borough is about a 10-minute walk from Farnham station. The council’s own advice is to avoid driving into the centre at all.
Is anything else on in Farnham that day?
Yes. The monthly Farnham Farmers’ Market runs the same morning in Central Car Park, 10am to 1pm, so the two overlap for three hours. Through the rest of September, the Taste of Farnham campaign runs promotions and seasonal menus at BID businesses across the town centre.
We keep a running page on Farnham roadworks and travel, and a guide to things to do in Farnham for the rest of the year. Train times and fares into London are on our Farnham to London trains page.
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