Thousands of festival-goers will descend on Marlow this weekend as the first Pub in the Park festival organised by Tom Kerridge gets underway.

The 14,000 ticket holders will experience dishes cooked by some of the best pub kitchens in the country including The Hand and Flowers, The Star Inn at Harome, The Coach, The Pony and Trap and Tom Kitchin’s Scran and Scallie.

The weekend will be split into sessions, running from 11.30am until 4.30pm and 6pm until 10.30pm.

Every session will also be packed full of entertainment including riverside games, the Artisan Food and Drink Market, and a selection of masterclasses including wine tasting sponsored by Dark Horse Wine.

Raymond Blanc, Angela Hartnett and Monica Galetti will be among the big names to take the stage to demonstrate their talents.

During the last couple of hours of each session, talent such as Tom Odell, James Morrison, The Fun Lovin’ Criminals, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, and some of Tom Kerridge’s favourites, The Rifles, The Milk and New Street Adventure, will play live. 

As well as providing a fantastic day out, Tom Kerridge and Brand Events TM, organisers of Pub in the Park, have also created a community fund from a portion of event proceeds that will provide grants to local groups.

In 2017, the fund will be £17,500 and the first grant of £12,000 will be made to support the Marlow Town Regatta.

Further grants will be made to charities and groups in the area identified jointly by the Town Council and Brand Events over the coming months.

Preparations for the big event have been underway in the town all week, with parts of the car park in Pound Lane closed off between May 17 and 22 to make way for commercial vehicles and AA road signage being erected on main routes into the town.

In a bid to ease predicted parking problems, a free park and ride has been put on by organisers, with guests being able to park at the behind the athletics track in Little Marlow before a bus drives them into the town centre.