New Banbury food and drink venue set to open this weekend at Castle Quay

Situated at Lock29, a ground-breaking independent food and leisure destination located in Banbury’s Castle Quay, Happerley England will give farmers, suppliers and producers a platform to champion their ‘Gold Standard’ produce.

TV presenter and farmer Adam Henson will be on hand for the grand opening on Saturday August 29.

They will also have Mark Robinson at the opening, who is a renowned chef, restaurateur and game hunter, who owns The Woodsman in Stratford-upon-Avon and has been filming the third season of 'Farming in the Wild'. There will be multiple producers and suppliers also attendance at the opening too.

The new food and drink venue will fill the 30,000 square foot former BHS store in Castle Quay. The Happerley England Banbury location at Lock29 will complement the forthcoming Castle Quay Waterfront development.

Matthew Rymer, CEO and founder of Happerley, said: “We're really excited this is taking place at Lock29 in Banbury. I believe very strongly it'll be a catalyst for Banbury.

"People are valuing food and drink and the importance of sustainability more than ever before due to COVID-19."

A Banbury area woman also won a competition to name the bar set to be run by the local Hook Norton Brewery. Carolyn Hay won the competition with the name 'The Salt Cellar' to link to the ancient saltway in Banbury.

The general hours are 9am to 9pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 9pm on Sunday with a license to extend to 12am for the bar facilities during special events.

Matthew added: "The ethos is we've become very aware the provenance of food and drink can get very lost to the consumer. We're just delivering a transparency and a truth to the consumer about their food.

"Everyone should know where their food is from that's the driving mission behind Happerley. At Happerley England you'll know the exact farm where your chicken came from.

"There is such a story in delivering the journey of your food. We don't want any customer or shopper to leave Happerley England and Lock29 without learning something."

The venue will also host a food and drink festival next month.

Happerley England is hosting a 12-week food festival from August 31 to September 6 with the first theme being 'Local Banbury Week.' The second one will follow with 'Craft Beer Week' from September 7 to 13. The third week will showcase all things cheese 'English Cheese Week' from September 14 to September 20. And 'English Wine Week' will be from September 21 to September 27.

Producers can book as little as a day and up to a month, with different scales of stands to sell from and different pricing structures to suit all scales of business (stands as cheap as £30 per day).