A festival dedicated to cheese is coming to Manchester next week

A cheese festival will be launching in Manchester next week, where you can samples cheese, eat cheesy specials from food vendors, and drink some great beers too.

The newly-announced Cheese Fest, which plans to be an annual festival, will bring together eight different cheesemakers, top local food traders, and a beloved Manchester brewery.

And what would cheese be without pickles? Holly Pickles, who runs Pickle Fest and Track’s Pickle Club, will be on hand with the perfect accompaniments.

Cheese Fest has been set up by The Crafty Cheeseman, and all for a very good cause, raising money to support the vital work of The Christie.

Jonathan Pearcey, aka The Crafty Cheeseman himself, was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of cancer back in 2024, and has been receiving treatment at The Christie.

It’s not the first time he’s set up a fundraiser for the charity, but he’s hoping that Cheese Fest will grow bigger and bigger every year, with vendors all donating a portion of their takings to The Christie Charity.

As well as having the chance to sample, buy, and learn about different cheeses from eight producers, you can feast on cheese toasties from Fred’s, and pizzas from Slice Culture.

The event will be taking place next weekend at Track Brewery’s home near Manchester Piccadilly – so you’ll also have some of the city’s best beers on hand to pair with your cheese.

Jonathan said: “Okay, so, huge news. We are launching, in collaboration with the beautiful Track Brewery, a cheese festival in Manchester. 

“Now as far as I’m aware there’s not been one before, or not for a long time, it’s something that I’ve been desperate to do, Track Brewery are the most wonderful people to be doing it with. 

“We are doing it on the 22nd November, it’ll be 12 til 5, there’ll be cheese producers there to talk to you about the cheese, you’ll be able to taste their cheese, and more importantly, buy their cheese. 

“There’ll be food vendors there doing awesome cheese specials, we will also have obviously all the extra bits you need with cheese – there’ll be someone doing pickles, there’ll be bread. You know, this is about celebrating the wonderful thing that is cheese.”

He added: “The biggest part of this for me is that we are doing it in collaboration with The Christie Charity. As a lot of you know, the journey I’m going through it’s The Christie who treats me, I’ve done previous things to raise money for charity and Track have been amazing getting behind me with this.

“I think it’s super important to try and support places like The Christie as much as we can, which is why all the vendors will be donating a portion of what we take to The Christie.”

Announcing the event online, The Crafty Cheeseman posted: “Please come down and support this cheesy event as where else can you eat and buy cheese whilst donating to charity.”

Cheese Fest will take place at Track Brewery on Sunday 22 November, from 12pm until 5pm.

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Featured image: The Manc Group