Canterbury Wine Festival™ is an annual event held at the Westgate Hall in the heart of the historic Cathedral City. This year Canterbury Wine Festival will take place on 16-17 May. Vineyard magazine caught up with the organisers of this wonderful celebration of Kent wine to discover more about the unique event.
Westgate Hall was going to be destroyed in 2009 to make way for more parking spaces for the town centre. The Hall has a long history of community use, there are even pictures of the building being used as a drill hall during WWI. Faced with this situation a community group called Save Westgate Hall was formed.
“Collaboration has been vital from the beginning – local people, local businesses, the community and the council all working together,” said Imogen Morizet one of the eight local residents who initially decided to preserve the Hall for the community. Imogen is also Chair of Trustees of Westgate Community Trust. The process was started in 2010 and the lease was signed in 2014. It was a long journey and highlights the determination to keep this space available for the community. “This place deserved to stay and it took passion and energy to save it – you need that in a community,” said Bryony Bishop who undertakes all the communications for Westgate Hall.
Westgate Community Trust runs the Hall which is a wide open and airy space perfectly suited to host weddings, conferences and other such events. Westgate Hall is also used by Bemix a Social Enterprise that supports people with learning difficulties and/or autism to gain the skills, qualifications and confidence they need to be fully involved in society.
“Most events (95%) that take place involve people hiring the Hall,” said Bryony. Canterbury Wine Festival however is fully led by the Westgate Community Trust. With the help of Clive Barlow MW the inaugural Canterbury Wine Festival was held in 2019. Clive Barlow MW has long been a champion of English Wine and is also deeply connected to the City of Canterbury. “Clive was supportive from the beginning and indicated that a showcase of Kent wines was a worthwhile endeavour, so the Canterbury Wine Festival was born,” said Imogen. “Charles and Ruth Simpson of Simpsons Wine Estate continue to inject their energy and experience to the festival,” added Imogen with warmth in her voice. Henry Sugden of Defined Wine is also active in highlighting the festival to local vineyards,” explained Bryony.
In 2019 Vineyard magazine interviewed many of the vineyards in attendance. Since this initial event the festival has gone from strength to strength. During Covid-19 Canterbury Wine Festival worked within social distancing principles and the talented and imaginative team came up with a way for the festival to continue. Run on a similar principle to speed dating, socially distanced groups were able to talk to producers for a set period of time, at the sound of a bell, the groups moved on. This is the first time I have connected social distancing with a sense of fun. The determination of the team behind the Canterbury Wine Festival explains how the festival has grown in success year on year.
The organisers of the event are proud of the accessible atmosphere that offers something for everyone. The full price of the entry ticket is £45 (you can add a masterclass with Clive Barlow MW for an extra £20pp).
In 2025 Canterbury Wine Festival will be bigger than ever. There will be 15 individual vineyards, alongside The Wine Garden of England and Corkk. Included in the price of the entry ticket visitors will have the opportunity to sample over 60 Kent wines. “There are always a few surprises as well,” said Cathy Blower the Events Manager at Westgate Hall. “We have a waiting list of producers,” said Bryony with pride. One of the unique aspects of this festival is that all the producers are allocated the same amount of space. “The visitors really love that all the vineyards are treated the same,” said Bryony.
“One of the joys of the festival is that between sessions the vineyards all mingle together which creates a great atmosphere,” Cathy said. Many other local businesses support the festival including Girlings and Burgess Hodgson who have been involved from the beginning and Wine Tours of Kent will also be supporting the festival this year.
The festival has three sessions over two days and there are a maximum of 140 tickets available per session. This ensures that all visitors have an opportunity to speak to the producers and get the most from their visit without the need to play sardines. For those who wish to get a deeper understanding of Kent wines Canterbury Wine Festival offers the opportunity to purchase tickets to a masterclass hosted by festival partner Clive Barlow MW.
Canterbury Wine Festival has worked hard to get feedback from visitors and one of the interesting figures from this research is that for the last two events 75% of the visitors are new to the festival. This indicates that wines from the county of Kent are being introduced to a greater number of potential consumers through the efforts of the Westgate Community Trust and their partners. “It is hard to track how the festival may change wine buying habits but it is continuing to successfully raise the profile of English wine,” said Bryony. “My vision for the festival is that all the restaurants in Canterbury have a selection of English wines on the menu because that is what the knowledgeable consumers want,” added Imogen.
Westgate Hall is located just a short walk from Canterbury West train Station and only a few yards from some of Canterbury’s great restaurants which makes it ideal for a consumer wine festival. With transport links into central London in 2025 the festival is working with South Eastern rail services on a poster campaign to promote the festival. “There is a broad range of people who attend the event, last year I spoke to two lovely women who had heard about the event on Instagram but we also get some international visitors,” said Cathy. The festival brings consumers directly to the city centre benefitting the local businesses. Westgate community Trust is all about serving the community and Canterbury Wine Festival is a wonderful part of that objective and with three sessions across two days there is plenty of opportunity for wine lovers to get involved.
