Stranraer Oyster Festival set to get underway

A popular festival celebrating Scotland's last remaining wild, native oyster bed is returning this weekend.

Stanraer Oyster Festival attracts thousands of visitors to the town each year.

Marking the start of the UK's native oyster season, the event features around 100 stalls celebrating local produce and demonstrations by celebrity chefs.

The native oyster beds in Loch Ryan are one of the most important in Europe.

The festival has been running since 2017 as a community-led regeneration project to mitigate the economic impact of the ferry port moving from Stranraer to nearby Cairnryan in 2011.

Romano Petrucci, chair of Stranraer Development Trust, said: "I think what makes it special to the local community is not a lot of people realised it was there until we had to look for something else when the boats sailed away.

"It's now very important to us. It's the last remaining native wild oyster bed in all of Scotland - that's very important."

He added: "The amount of visitors is growing incredibly every year. It means so much to the local community. It's like another Christmas. People come to be together and to celebrate and enjoy the local community."

Celebrity chefs taking part this year include TV double acts, the BBC’s Spice Kings Tony Singh and Cyrus Todiwala, and STV’s Hot Wok stars Julie Lin and Jimmy Lee. Also in the demonstration kitchen, along with Pam Brunton, whose Inver restaurant is the only one in Scotland to have received a Michelin Green Star.

The festival also features the Scottish Shucking Championship, a light procession and fireworks over Loch Ryan.

It takes place from Friday 13 to Sunday 15 September.

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