Cambridge Food & Drink Week 2025 (28 June - 11 July) organised by Cambridge BID. Food & Drink Week 2025 brought together the city’s vibrant culinary community for a two-week celebration of flavour, creativity, and local hospitality. The initiative aimed to increase footfall, drive business engagement, and inspire residents and visitors to discover new venues across Cambridge.
This year's campaign delivered a wide-reaching, multi-channel programme of activity, offering:
33 exclusive offers promoted by 29 participating businesses
13 events hosted throughout the fortnight – from pop-ups to hands-on workshops
3 themed trails (Cocktail, Sweet Treat, and Indie) encouraging exploration across the city
2 in-kind sponsorships:
Greys Bars hosted a vibrant mocktail pop-up bar in Lion Yard
Boom Battle Bar welcomed guests to a B2B networking event, exclusively for BID members
A strategic partnership with Foodies Festival, helping extend the reach and reinforce Cambridge as a foodie destination
Website Performance
Food & Drink Week was fully integrated into the Love Cambridge website, with dedicated pages for offers, trails, and events. In total, the campaign generated:
8,735 homepage views, with 2,773 active users browsing the site
The Taste the City offers page received 6,473 views, drawing in 1,584 active users
The trail pages were visited 3,928 times, with 1,159 active users
The events section saw 3,833 views and 1,260 active users
More than 250 offers were downloaded, highlighting strong customer engagement and intent to visit.
Social Media Overview
A multi-platform digital strategy was central to the campaign, supported by both organic and paid content. The combined performance across Instagram and Facebook demonstrated high visibility and engagement:
Instagram:
A total of 69 posts and reels reached 46,976 accounts, with 74,286 total views – resulting in an average engagement rate of 3.4%
117 stories were published, amassing 25,692 views and reaching 24,478 unique accounts
Story links were clicked 269 times, showing a high level of interaction and click-through intent
Facebook:
63 posts generated 95,864 views, reaching 54,138 people
These posts saw 268 engagements and 3,584 link clicks
A targeted boosted post campaign added a further 40,177 views, with 1,022 link clicks and 1,130 engagements – achieving an engagement rate of 6.5%, significantly higher than the typical industry average
Sponsorship & Partnerships
This year’s programme was further strengthened through in-kind support from local businesses and a key festival partnership:
Greys Bar brought colour and creativity to Lion Yard with a free mocktail pop-up bar, offering refreshing alcohol-free drinks and encouraging family-friendly participation
Boom Battle Bar hosted a well-attended BID Networking Drinks evening, giving local business representatives a chance to connect in a relaxed environment
Cambridge BID also collaborated with Foodies Festival, ensuring wider media exposure and tapping into an aligned foodie audience
“Supporting Cambridge Food & Drink Week has been a fantastic way for us to celebrate the city’s vibrant hospitality scene. We’ve loved connecting with new faces, showcasing our Pop-up bars, and being part of an event that champions local flavour and flair.” Greys Bars Cambridge
Sue Hitchen, founder of Foodies Festival, said: "I’m delighted with the success of the partnership between Food and Drink Week and Foodies Festival, which was a fantastic opportunity to celebrate and highlight Cambridge’s exceptional culinary scene and showcase the best restaurants, bars, produce, and foodie experiences. We were thrilled to receive such a warm and generous welcome to the city."
Business Feedback Overview
A post-event survey was shared with participating businesses to evaluate the effectiveness of Cambridge Food & Drink Week 2025. While responses were limited, the feedback provided useful insight into engagement and satisfaction levels:
Participation
67% of respondents ran an offer as part of the Taste the City promotion
Others hosted events or featured on one of the themed trails
POS Pack (Posters, Table Stands, Staff Info)
33% found the pack very useful and used it to promote the event
Another 33% found it somewhat useful
The remaining respondents either didn’t use it or created their own materials
Digital Assets
50% of respondents used the social media logos and copy suggestions provided via the website
50% created their own social content or did not use the assets
Love Cambridge Social Media Promotion
83% said the central social media promotion was effective
17% felt it was less effective or were unsure
Overall Satisfaction
83.3% of respondents said they would be happy to take part again in 2026
This feedback indicates a strong foundation for future Food & Drink Weeks, with useful insights for refining business support and promotional materials.
Cambridge Food & Drink Week 2025 successfully highlighted the strength, creativity, and diversity of our city’s hospitality scene. From themed trails and exclusive offers to pop-ups and collaborative events, the two-week celebration delivered strong engagement both online and in-person. We are incredibly grateful to all the businesses that took part and helped bring the programme to life.
As we look ahead to 2026, we’re keen to build on this momentum. We’d love to hear from businesses about what worked well, what could be improved, and what new ideas or formats they’d like to see introduced. Whether it's expanding trails, hosting more bookable events, or introducing fresh promotional opportunities, your feedback will help shape the future of Food & Drink Week.
If you’d like to get involved in next year’s event, share suggestions, or explore partnership opportunities, please get in touch to natalie.cargill@cambridgebid.co.uk, we’d be delighted to include you.
