Dame Mary Berry leads chef line up at Marlow's Pub in the Park 2024

Tickets go on sale today for Marlow’s highly anticipated annual food and music festival.

Tom Kerridge’s Pub in the Park returns to Higginson Park in May with music legend, Van Morrison set to perform.

The lineup has been described as ‘bigger and better than ever’ in celebrating the ‘best of British pub culture’.

Celebrity chefs will include Angela Hartnett, Jose Pizarro, Michel Roux Junior, Candice Brown, Simon Rimmer, Andi Oliver, Thom Bateman, Atul Kochhar and Matt Tebbutt.

Dame Mary Berry will also visit the festival for the first time and open the show as well as appearing in 'an audience with' on stage.

She leads a lineup of national and local stars raising money for the charity, Meals from Marlow.

Tom Kerridge said: “Meals from Marlow has seen the whole 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.”

Boyband Busted has been announced as the Friday night headliners while Van Morrison will be bringing hits such as Brown Eyed Girl and Have I Told You Lately on Thursday to complete an evening of all-star entertainment for the gala opening night.

Sunday Brunch star Simon Rimmer will be unveiling his new touring live music and food podcast series, Pod in the Park and Angela Hartnett will bring her Cafe Murano Book Club, a new cookery book pavilion to listen to the stories behind the cookery books and get signed copies by the authors.

Guests can also discover the new fire food restaurant next to the revamped Firepit theatre, where specialist chefs from Temper and Hangfire BBQ Smokehouse will be serving dishes over the open fire.

Chef Jack Blumenthal and his Ginger Wings team will launch the new Wing Rave stage to combine tasty wings with a lineup of DJs.

The biggest addition for 2024 is the Kitchen Studio, an arena that will welcome food chat, live Q&As, celebrity interviews, live demos and masterclasses and live chef challenges as well as a new foodie pub quiz with stars from MasterChef: The Professionals.

Tickets are on sale today at 10am (February 9) at tickets.pubintheparkuk.com 

From each £45 ticket, £10 will be donated to the Marlow charity. Super Donor tickets are £300 each and will donate 100 meals for the year and gain access to the VIP celeb reception, the tasting menu and stage side VIP access.

Ticket revenue and other activities on the evening will all be part of a campaign to raise £40,000 for Meals for Marlow, a charity launched during Covid to feed people in need.

Meals from Marlow organiser Rev’d Dave Bull of All Saints Church said: “Pub in The Park has supported Meals From Marlow since the day it started in 2020. Without their generous support, we would not exist today.

“As the town gathers to enjoy this year’s festival, it’s wonderful to know that we are supporting those who are struggling at the moment and pursuing our vision that there should be no hungry people in Marlow.”