The celebrity chef behind the body charged with bringing thousands of new tourists to Lancashire has called on Preston to seize its Guild legacy.
Paul Heathcote, the chairman of Marketing Lancashire, said the city needed to ensure it developed a regular events programme to carry on the momentum of this week’s programme of events.
The restarateur has vowed to use the muscle of the body which has replaced the county’s tourist board to help it develop a series of events to boost the city.
Mr Heathcote said the success of the Square Food Festival which brought thousands of people to Winckley Square needed to be repeated in the coming years.
He said: “There needs to be legacy events for the Guild legacy events and I would love to see us consider festive markets down on Winckley Square and down on the parks.
“The Guild has encouraged businesses to see what can be done with a partnership between them and the council.
“Whether it is pop concerts, food festivals or art events, we have to make sure we have something which keeps people coming back into Preston year-after-year.”
In the run-up to the Guild, Mr Heathcote called for a series of “mini-Guilds” to be held to grow momentum in the
He said: “In the 21st Century, you cannot wait 20 years between events and expect people to have the same enthusiasm, I know my memories of 1992 were quite cloudy.
“If we wait 20 years without doing anything, there will be a lot of people who will have forgotten how good this week has been.”
Mark Whittle, a spokesman for the city’s Business Improvement District (BID), said its three-times-a-year Lancashire Market which runs on Friargate would be “a strong legacy” for the food festival.
It has attract 240,000 visitors to the high street in the three years it has been running.
He said: “There is a legacy for the food festival and that legacy will continue with the Lancashire Markets.
“Anything which is happening after the Guild, the BID is happy to get involved with.”
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