Anticipation is building for the fourth annual Great Yarmouth Food Festival which was officially launched this week.

The special event, which takes place over the flagship weekend of the Norfolk Food and Drink Festival, will once again give tourists and residents a taste of what the town has to offer.

Following the success of last year's festival this year's will once again run for three days, from Friday to Sunday, September 25 to 27. Great Yarmouth Borough Council's deputy leader Barry Coleman was on-hand to launch the Festival and is confident it will be a huge boost for residents and economy.

He said: 'This fourth annual helping aims to provide yet another special reason to visit the town centre during September, helping to further boost footfall and the local economy.'

The festival will see a host of special stalls which will offer residents and visiters exciting cooking demonstrations, free tasting sessions from local food producers, restaurateurs and traders, with live music entertainment adding to the atmosphere.

Cllr Coleman believes it is a perfect opportunity to show-off skills.

He said: 'The festival is a fantastic opportunity for local food producers, restaurateurs and traders to showcase their mouth-watering wares - and to show everyone that Great Yarmouth has much more to offer food-wise than just chips and herring.'

One trader who is looking forward to the festival is Christine Boggis, who supplys the market's visitors with home-grown apples and and herbs from Orchard Farm Plants. She said: 'It's good for the town, I think, to have something going on in the Market Place like this, I just think it's nice, especially if the weather is good. Last year was lovely and it brought a lot of people out and it was just a great weekend.

'It's always nice to have the Friday and Saturday, I personally always do the market on those days but it was nice to come along on the Sunday because the Sunday is more of a family day.

'There were plenty of people about and I think tit's just got to be great for the town – bringing all of the people into the centre.'

On the Friday and Saturday, visitors will be able to buy seafood, meat, fruit, vegetables along with other produce from the market traders on the market, which will also be running as normal on the Wednesday leading up to the festival.

Those wanting to secure a pitch for the festival should contact Duncan Mallett on 01493 846403, with each pitch costing £100 for the three days.

Booking forms are also available through the borough council's website at www.great-yarmouth.gov.uk