Hundreds of people enjoy Southampton Summer Feastival

The aptly named Summer Feastival arrived in Southampton over the weekend.

The boutique-style food and drink festival welcomed several independent companies serving up delicious dishes in Crosshouse Car Park.

The event was born out of organiser Matt Sanger’s appetite for something new and exciting in the city.

Matt Sanger (Image: Newsquest)

Matt, who organised the festival with creative director of Street Food Circus Matt the Hat, said: “We have been talking for a long time about doing something focused on street food in Southampton.

“I live in Sholing and I’ve always thought this car park would be a great location for an event.

“It’s about having an imagination and seeing what can be done with a space like this.

“We have worked around the clock to put this together, it’s a real effort.

“There’s a lot of food here today, with companies travelling from Bath, London, Birmingham, Cardiff, Isle of Wight, and Southampton of course.”

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For Matt, inspiring the city community was just as important as the food offered.

He said: “It’s so diverse, we have young and old here today. We have such a lovely mix of people.

“We want to inspire local food traders to see this as an opportunity to do things like this.

“It’s hugely important for the city to have more places for people to come together and celebrate humans.

“I know it sounds cheesy but it’s important we come together.”

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Among those enjoying the cuisine on offer was husband and wife Charlaine and Dean Wheeler.

The pair attended the festival with friends Chris and Jimmy Foster.

From L-R: Chris Foster, Jimmy Foster, Charlaine Wheeler, and Dean Wheeler (Image: Newsquest)

Charlaine said: “We are here for the food and the beer.

“It’s a brilliant event, 100 per cent more events like this are needed in Southampton.

“We want to the Southbank in London for a similar festival, and this is on a par with that.

“It’s great we don’t have to travel far away. And, we have hit the jackpot with the weather.

“It’s really great.”

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Southampton residents Simon and Jerrie brought their dog Sir William to the festival.

Sir William (Image: Newsquest)

Simon said: “We are here for the food, weather and drinks. It’s a good event.

“We said this car park was a funny place to have the event and wondered how they would pull it off, but it’s just right.”

Jerrie added: “When we saw that it was in a car park, I was surprised, but it’s different. You don’t really get a lot of events like this here.”