THE ninth annual Malton Food Lovers Festival, which took place over the weekend, is being described as the biggest yet.

Over 150 producers and 50 street food stalls transformed Malton town centre, with cooking demonstrations, interviews, book signings, family fun, entertainment and music taking place across the two days.

Among the big name guests of the festival were new Great British Bake Off host Prue Leith and Levi Roots, creator of the Reggae Reggae Sauce brand, who did a Caribbean cooking demonstration and also played a gig with his band, the Herbs and Spices.

Other names taking to the 'cookery theatre' included Dan Graham, Simi Rezai, Stephanie Moon, Richard Burr, Simon Woods, Jonathan Batchelor and Miguel Barclay, as well as Hanna Sillitoe signing copies of her latest book, Radiant.

Tom Naylor-Leyland, festival director, said: "It’s truly astonishing for highly-acclaimed foodies, such as Prue Leith, to call Malton their favourite foodie town.

"Year on year, we strive to develop the quality of food and drink on offer to our visitors and we’re thrilled to have showcased the biggest variety of artisan produce and delicious street food than ever before.

"It was a pleasure to see the streets of Yorkshire’s Food Capital so vibrant and buzzing with food, family fun, music and sunshine as crowds turned out in their thousands."

Malton Community Interest Company (CIC) was set up in 2011 to fund and deliver charitable projects for ‘The Community of Malton, Norton and the surrounding area’.

The CIC funds, among others, free parking in the Market Place in Malton, The Malton Food Lovers' Festival and Malton Monthly Food Markets.