A ‘music legend’ has been announced as the Thursday night headliner of a highly-anticipated food and music festival in Buckinghamshire.

Tom Kerridge’s Pub in the Park festival, which annually kicks off its country-wide tour in Marlow, is set to return to Higginson Park between Thursday, May 16 and Sunday, May 19 this year.

With early-2000s boyband Busted already announced as Friday night headliners, the countdown to the festival is officially on – with excitement sure to climb further thanks to the latest news about the “music legend” lined up to usher in the festivities during a glitzy opening gala event.

Thursday night's music promises to be one for the books, with 'Van the Man' himself, Hall of Famer Van Morrison, taking to the main stage to get the party started with hits including Brown Eyed Girl and Have I Told You Lately.

The evening is slated to be a star-studded occasion all round, with Tom Kerridge joined by national treasure Mary Berry alongside a host of other national and local celebs in an effort to raise £50,000 for local charity Meals for Marlow.

Tickets for the Thursday night gala will go on sale on Friday, February 9 at £45 a pop, £10 of which will be donated to Meals for Marlow, ahead of the night’s recognition of local heroes including the Marlow Ukraine Collective, local teachers, health workers and community groups.

READ MORE: New names announced for Buckinghamshire's 'biggest festival'

Announcing the line-up, Tom Kerridge said: “Meals from Marlow has seen the whole community of this amazing town work together for four years to ensure that we feed people in need.

"The opening night of Pub in The Park is the perfect opportunity for us all to come together and can be our biggest and best fundraiser yet.”

Charity founder Andy Agar added: “Meals from Marlow was founded in April 2020 in response to Covid and initially served food to health and other key workers.  It has since expanded its work to serve the elderly, and other needy groups in and around Marlow. 

"It has been funded by the generosity of local community groups and individuals for 4 years and is operated by an amazing team of up to 100 completely unpaid volunteers.

“To date, the project has raised over £400k and funded over 200,000 meals”.

Are you excited for this year's Pub in the Park?