WHAT IS THE

Newent Onion Fayre is a one day street festival of food drink and merriment which attracts almost 15,000 visitors. At the heart of the festival is the Onion Show which is unique in its status in the UK. The whole town becomes a party during what has become recognised as a celebration of the first day of harvest at the end of the summer.

Newent, originally the site of a manor belonging to the Abbey of Cormeilles in Normandy, quickly grew into a sizeable community when King Henry III granted the new town of ‘Noent’ a market and two annual fayres by charter.

By the end of the 13th century it was well established as a thriving market town where Welsh drovers, passing through to Gloucester, would purchase local onions at the town’s newly established Onion Fayre. The Onion Fayre survived to the early part of the twentieth century when, unfortunately, the war years saw its demise.

However in 1996 the Fayre was revived as a festival to celebrate local food and drink, and has since grown considerably to a fantastic crowd-pulling National event.

It now encompasses much more than the originally planned, being a fine showcase for locally grown vegetables, fruit and other more elaborate foods, plus a wide selection of alcoholic and non alcoholic juices and drinks.

With lots of live music, entertainment, food and drink, plus 100+ stands, exhibitions, children's events and not forgetting THE ONE AND ONLY NEWENT ONION SHOW!

It has become the largest one-day festival in the whole of Gloucestershire and the ONLY National Festival to celebrate the MAGNIFICENT ONION!