Hull Street Food Nights ready to return with cup cakes – and pup cakes!

Steven Lodge (right) and Chris Rust outside Patisserie House in Princes Dock Street, Hull.

Other attractions at the event in Zebedee’s yard on Thursday 15 August include free family entertainment featuring top local band The Charm Offensive, with organisers expecting to attract another big holiday crowd.

Hull Street Food Nights have been bringing together cuisine from around the globe – with a drinks offer to match – since 2017, giving local food businesses and guests from further afield a platform to showcase their wares.

The event will run from 4pm until 9pm and among the traders from the Hull area will be Stretch Pizza, Shiok! Singapore Street Food, Cheng and Chen and Everything Toastie. Indian, Greek and Caribbean dishes will also be available along with desserts including crepes and waffles.

Steven Lodge, who recently opened Patisserie House, will be making his first appearance at the event and Lili + Mila’s Empawrium, which last month introduced doggie treats as a Hull Street Food Nights first, will be back for a second helping.

A pastry chef who studied at Hull College before working at the Michelin-star Winteringham Fields, Steven serves his own sweet and savoury creations from his new bakery and shop in Princes Dock Street.

He said: “I haven’t done Hull Street Food Nights before and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m still deciding what to sell on the night but our sausage rolls are popular – some of them with black pudding or chorizo – and we’ve also got some tarts and cup cakes which people seem to like.

“We’re working on some exciting new ideas in partnership with three of the local bars but for now we’re focusing on having a good night and letting people know where we are.”

Lisa Hall launched Lil + Mila’s Empawrium from home in 2021, took her own stall in Trinity Indoor Market in 2022 and now operates from her dream location in Land of Green Ginger.

In addition to a wide range of clothing and grooming products for dogs, Lisa offers pet treats from her in-store charcuterie as well as “pup tarts” and “pup cakes” from the Life of Riley “pawtisserie” in Shropshire. Hull Street Food Nights will form part of the first anniversary of opening her shop.

Lisa said: “We’re having a movie-themed celebration over the weekend of August 10 and 11 with our ‘Hullywoof Osgrrs’ and the fun will continue at Hull Street Food Nights. Last time we sold all sorts of treats to people who brought their dogs along and to others to take home. We’ll also have some nice things for cats!”

Hull Street Food Nights main sponsors 40Twenty Events are looking forward to another busy night after nearly three years ago serving fans in the “Craven Streat” end at Hull Kingston Rovers.

The project was new territory for Paul Jordan, who works in construction, and Adam Oglesby, who is in transport, but they built a team of great staff and converted old horseboxes into bars which are ideal for outdoor events.

Paul said: “We’re in our third season at Rovers and it’s gone really well. We started with one converted horsebox and we outgrew that so now we’ve got two, both of them bigger and enabling us to serve beer, spirits and cocktails.

“We’ve also done Hull Street Food Nights for the last three years and we jumped at the chance to sponsor them this year. It’s a great location and a great opportunity to raise awareness of our business and show what we can do for weddings, birthday parties and other events.”

Kathryn Shillito, HullBID Executive Director, said Hull Street Food Nights have become a big hit since their introduction, drawing crowds into the city centre and generating a spin-off for other businesses.

She added that the mini food festivals are part of a wider programme of free HullBID attractions all designed to appeal to a diverse audience and build footfall.

She said: “We’ve got Superhero Day and Dino Day – are both hugely popular events which attract families looking for a lot of fun and a few frights all free of charge.

“We’ve also tempted a different crowd for Trinity Festival Rebooted, which returns on Saturday September 19 with free live music in pubs and café bars throughout the city centre.

“Hull Street Food Nights dovetail with all of that, and this year we have added some great entertainment. We’ve had some fantastic bands earlier in the summer and coming up there’s The Charm Offensive on August 15 and The Beautiful Couch on September 28.”

To find out more about Hull Street Food Nights visit https://www.hullbid.co.uk/