The RAF Museum in Colindale is launching a big new event on Barnet’s social calendar reports David Floyd

Two adults and a child sitting on a big striped deckchair. One adult is eating a pretend hot dog — Barnet Food Festival will take place on 13th and 14th September – (Credit – RAF Museum)

There’s a big new local event in the calendar this month as the RAF Museum hosts its first ever food festival.

The museum in Colindale is well known for its hangars packed with historical aircraft but Barnet Food Festival, which takes place on 13th and 14th September, offers a new mix of food, live music and children’s activities which the museum describes as “the tastiest weekend in town”.

Barnet Post talked to Robert Wood, public events manager at the museum, to find out more. Robert explained: “It’s going to be a fun family day out” with a range to celebrate the diversity of Barnet as an area.

He added: “We’re going to have about 40 food vendor stalls of all different backgrounds, providing all different foods… there’s pizza, there’s kebabs, there’s ice cream, there’s jollof.”

Local groups with stalls will include Friern Barnet-based Caribbean restaurant Allotments N11. As well as food, the festival will feature live music on the ‘Spitfire Stage’ from artists including Sound of Soul, Jimmy B, Lucy Alexandra, Aruna, The Barn-Ettes, and Lara.

Robert says: “It’s really nice to use the airfield because that’s a space that we don’t normally get to use but we’re going to fill it with all this wonderful stuff.”

Activities for children include a bouncy castle assault course, face painting and the chance to design their own biscuit, while adults can enjoy drinks from the Barnet Beach Bar. Attending the festival also gives local people who may not have visited before a chance to explore the museum’s collection of historical aircraft.

Robert adds: “It just provides an opportunity for the museum to reach out to those people that may have never even considered coming to the RAF Museum.

“To come along and have a great day out and taste some tasty food. But then they’re going to go into the hangars and go like, oh, well, I didn’t know this about this aircraft.”

With tickets £10 for adults and children free, the museum team are hoping that Barnet Food Festival will become a popular annual event for both the museum and the borough.

Robert says: “Hopefully it will become a flagship event for the museum. September rolls around, where are we going to go? We’re going to go to the RAF Museum because they’ve got this wonderful food festival on.”

To buy tickets for the Barnet Food Festival at RAF Museum London go to: https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/whats-going-on/barnet-food-festival-2025/

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