2026 Dates Announced for Food and Drink Tours After Success
Bury St Edmunds Food and Drink Tours will continue in 2026 with new dates announced this week.
Bury St Edmunds Tour Guides teamed up with businesses in the town centre to launch a new Food & Drink Tour in Suffolk’s Foodie Capital last year. The Tour Guides worked with Our Bury St Edmunds BID and BID member businesses on the new tour on selected Thursday afternoons from 2pm to 4.30pm.
77 visitors enjoyed the new attraction during 2025 which includes a two and a half-hour food and drink themed tour of the town stopping off at six local businesses to try bite-sized samples of food and drink, hearing about the business and the local history of the building and location.
With positive feedback from locals and visitors alike including excellent reviews on TripAdvisor, tour dates for 2026 are now available to book.
John Saunders, Marketing Officer, said: ““For local residents, the tours have increased awareness of the wonderful independent businesses to enjoy in Bury, with many saying they had not visited some venues before and now intend to return. We believe this will drive meaningful repeat business.
“For visitors, it has raised awareness of Bury as Suffolk’s foodie capital and we know many visitors return independently to make purchases after first discovering them on a tour.”
The tour takes you through the heart of Bury St Edmunds, offering visitors a taste of the town and a chance to discover Bury’s food and drink history, for example Cook’s Row, the Abbot’s feasts, and how a maltster almost destroyed the town. Along the way, guests enjoy bite sized samples of delicious food and drink and meet the people behind the town’s independent businesses.
Mark Cordell, CEO of Our Bury St Edmunds Business Improvement District, said: “We are absolutely delighted with how the tours have developed under the Bury St Edmunds Tour Guides and with their continuation into 2026. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and the fact that visitors are returning to spend money with our independent businesses after taking part is a clear indicator of the tours’ success.”
The guides now work with 15 BID businesses on a rotating basis: Adnams, Beautiful Beers, Blend, Hopsters, Lotties, Marimba, Midgar Coffee, Nethergate Wines, No5 Angel Hill, Procopio’s Pantry, The Cheesehole, The Wine Cellar, Verve, Vespers, and Vino Gusto.
Tickets for the Bury St Edmunds Food and Drink Tour are £25. To book for 2026 visit the Bury St Edmunds Tour Guides website: www.burystedmundstourguides.org
2026 Bury St Edmunds Food and Drink Tours
22 January
February 12 & 26
March 12 & 26
April 2, 16 & 30
May 21
June 4 & 18
July 2, 9, 16 & 23
August 6, 13, 20 & 27
September 10 & 17
Some of the wonderful reviews of the Food and Drink Tours:
“What a fantastic afternoon we had on our trip with John. History of the town was combined with meeting independent traders who were chatty & welcoming. Good mix of food and drink.
We managed to go back to 4 the next day. Exceeded our expectations.
Ps. Don’t eat too much prior to your visit.”
“The food tour was a fabulous experience. The local business owners we met were all very friendly and knowledgeable, it felt like we were given a real ‘insiders’ experience. Our guide was very personable and helped us all to gel as a group. We sampled some excellent food and will definitely be going back to the venues we visited. It was an invaluable overview of just some of the food venues Bury has to offer.”
“Our group had the most fantastic afternoon on the new Food and Drink Tour. It was so interesting, the food and drinks were delicious and so different. It was lovely to meet the owners and staff at the Bury St Edmunds independent businesses. Our guide Adrian was so knowledgeable about the town, giving us a great mix of history and anecdotes as we walked to each venue.
Thank you – we will all be recommending the tour to friends and family.”
