Thousands will head for town's food festival

* Food festival committee members Phil Davies and Pip Gale raise a glass of Chateau Loughlin in honour of event saviour Colin Loughlin.

* Booze Brothers Gruff and Ieuan Jones.

* Chirk Trout Farm and Smokery's Rachel Simpson with new smoked pancetta product.

Thousands of food lovers will be beating a path to Llangollen this weekend to sample the culinary delights of the town’s annual food festival.

Llangollen Food Festival will be held on Saturday and Sunday at the international pavilion.

The event, which will provide a shop window for more than 100 stallholders, has been named as one of the UK’s Top 10 food festivals by the Daily Telegraph and Independent newspapers.

It will also provide a major boost to the local economy which stands to benefit from a total spend of £400,000 by visitors.

Among those plying their trade there will be the Wrexham-based Booze Brothers who  will be launching a new cocktail in honour of two aristocratic women who scandalised 18^th century society when they eloped together from Ireland and settled in Llangollen.

The concoction called Ladies’ Dee-light will celebrate the lives of the Ladies of Llangollen, Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby.

The new drink is the brainchild of two brothers,  trained mixologists Gruff and Ieuan Jones,  whose micro bar business is taking North Wales by storm.

Also being launched is a new wine to honour the memory of the man who saved the popular festival – and will be used to raise money for his favourite charity.

Friends and colleagues were devastated by the sudden death of the “larger than life” former wine distributor Colin Loughlin, 76  after he suffered a heart attack at his home on the outskirts of the town in February.

The red wine, appropriately called Chateau Loughlin, will be unveiled at this year’s festival and the label features a colourful caricature of Colin.

The proceeds will be used to help fund a defibrillator on a new boat, the Lady Winifred, that’s recently been launched by the Vale of Llangollen Canal Boat Trust which Colin supported for many years.

Back in 2011, Colin came to rescue of the Llangollen Food Festival and led a team of volunteers who took it over when the previous organiser pulled the plug on the event.

Festival committee member Pip Gale, who also runs Gales Wine Bar in Llangollen, sourced the Chateau Loughlin wine.

Pip said: “Chateau Loughlin is a lovely, easy drinking wine from the South of France, made with predominantly with Syrah grapes.  I’m sure Colin would approve."

A trout farm and smokehouse whose delicacies once tickled the taste buds of James Bond has lined up a legendary new treat for visitors the  festival.

Chirk Trout Farm Shop and Smokery, which has supplied smoked trout to the Orient Express among other prestigious establishments, will be unveiling its luxurious new smoked pancetta.

“It’s great to be returning to one of the loveliest food events in the country with a new product,” said former veterinary nurse Rachael  Simpson, 40, who joined the firm run by the Simpson family after marrying her husband Richard, 44, who manages the smokery and trout farm. 

Festival committee member Phil Davies said: “We have a wonderful array of fantastic food producers clustered in the area for whom we can provide a shop window.

"I'm glad to say we're also making a positive contribution the local economy with food lovers travelling from far and wide because the festival is now firmly and rightly established as a major highlight in the UK's culinary calendar."

* For more information go to www.llangollenfoodfestival.com