Free entry, 11am to 6pm and a £9 cap on every street food dish. The Tunbridge Wells Food and Drink Festival is at Calverley Grounds on 26 and 27 September.

The Royal Tunbridge Wells Food and Drink Festival returns to Calverley Grounds on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 September. Entry is free.

The organiser’s ticket listing prices every ticket at £0.00 and gives the running times as 11am on the Saturday through to 6pm on the Sunday. (Eventbrite, Tonbridge Farmers’ Market) The Kent Farmers’ Market Association, which lists the festival among its markets, says it “will run from 11am to 6pm both days” and calls it “the culmination of Royal Tunbridge Wells Food Month”. (KFMA)

One thing to watch before you set off. The banner at the top of that same KFMA page gives the market as “4th Weekend in September, 10.00am - 6.00pm”, an hour earlier than the times in the page’s own description. If you want to be there at the opening, 11am is the time both the ticket listing and the body of the KFMA page agree on.

What is on

The organiser’s own description sets out four things:

  • The Marketplace, with “over 55 stallholders showcasing the best of Kent and international flavors”, from artisan cheeses and breads to fudge and locally roasted coffee
  • The Street Food Café, a covered dining area serving English, European, Asian and New World dishes
  • A “Taster Menu” experience, with a £9 cap on all meals so you can try more than one kitchen
  • A cooking demonstration stage, new this year, with chefs cooking signature dishes and stallholders talking about how their products are made

The stallholder list published by the KFMA is partial at this stage and currently runs to coffee roasters, prepared food, spices and other producers, including Freedom Coffee, a nano-roastery based at Borough Green.

The council’s record of it

The festival also shows up in the licensing register the borough shares with Sevenoaks. A temporary event notice, reference 25/05094/LATEN, was lodged for “Calverley Grounds-Food & Drink Festival” at Calverley Grounds, TN1 2SH, in the name of Ms Lesley Bennett. It gives the event start date as 26 September 2026 and the end date as 27 September 2026, and it was received on 12 December 2025, more than nine months ahead. (Licensing Partnership temporary events tracker, extracted 4 September 2026)

Calverley Grounds now also holds a premises licence in its own right. Application 26/02084/LAPRE was received on 21 May 2026, its public notice ran from 22 May to 18 June, nobody made a representation, and the register records the licence as issued. (Licensing Partnership premises licence tracker)

Finding it

The two listings give two different addresses for the same park. The ticket page has Calverley Grounds, Mount Pleasant Avenue, TN1 1BT. The KFMA page has Mountfield Gardens, TN1 1SJ. Those are gates on different sides of the grounds, about 250 metres apart, so either will get you there.

There is a second market in town on the Sunday. The Pantiles’ own events list has a Calverley Precinct Market on 27 September, followed by a Pantiles Market on 10 and 11 October. (The Pantiles)

What it means for you

  • Free to walk in, both days. The Eventbrite listing carries tickets at £0.00, so if you would rather have one in advance, it costs nothing to claim.
  • Budget for the £9 cap, not for the entry. Every dish in the street food area is capped at that price, which is the point of the taster format.
  • Go for 11am. Two of the three published times say 11am to 6pm. The 10am line in the KFMA banner is the odd one out.
  • Leave the car if you can. Calverley Grounds sits behind Mount Pleasant Road, a short walk from the town centre and the station. If you are driving, our guide to parking in Tunbridge Wells has the car parks and the charges.
  • If you want to trade there, the market manager listed by the KFMA is Steven Wood, on 07876 685853 or steve@tonbridgefarmersmarket.co.uk.
  • More to do that weekend is in our guide to things to do in Tunbridge Wells.

Sources