ONE of Bolton’s celebrity cooks has been named, along with a Masterchef semi-finialist and the chief executive of Manchester City FC, as one the chefs who will be providing free cookery demos during this month’s Bolton Food and Drink Festival.

Bolton’s biggest festival to date, organised by the council, is taking place from Friday, August 26 to Monday, August 29.

Celebrity chefs Michael Caines, Gino D’Acampo, the Hairy Bikers and James Martin will be appearing in the special demo kitchen in Victoria Square.

Now, organisers have also secured a mix of high-profile chefs who the public can watch for free at Bolton Market, in Ashburner Street, and at The Market Place Shopping Centre.

BBC Fusion chef Aazam Ahmad will be making his third visit to the festival to entertain crowds in the market, at noon on Friday and Saturday.

TV regular Stacie Stewart is the star of the show on Saturday.

Having shot to fame as a semi-finalist of Masterchef 2010, Stacie makes appearances on ITV1 show This Morning and runs The Beehive Bakery in Sunderland.

Bolton’s Anjali Pathak, from the Patak spice empire, will headline on Sunday while John Benson- Smith, consultant executive chef to Manchester City, will get tastebuds tingling on Monday.

All the headline chefs’ demos are at 11am, 1pm and 3pm.

Other chefs also on the menu at the Market Place include award-winning vegetarian chef Eddie Shepherd; Paul Morris, owner of the Chocolate Café in Ramsbottom; Nick O’Mahoney, head chef at Egerton house Hotel in Bolton James Berry, head chef at Whitehall Hotel in Darwen and Jon Jones from The Brewhouse, Eagley. Their demos are at noon and 2pm.

Cllr Cliff Morris, leader of Bolton Council, said: “We’re really pleased we’ve been able to expand the festival.”

Market Place manager Rod Neasham added: “The live cookery demonstrations from top chefs and regional experts will allow visitors to get first hand tips and tricks from these fabulous professionals.”

Market Place Shopping Centre is also giving shoppers free parking in the multi-storey car park if visitors spend £40 or more on any day throughout the whole event weekend.

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