As Newport’s top culinary event enters its sixth year, there’s an exciting new taste on the menu as award-winning Newport brewery Tiny Rebel is announced as headline sponsor.

To be known as the Tiny Rebel Newport Food and Drink Festival, the event on Saturday, October 1 promises to be the biggest and best yet.

A company born and bred in Newport, Tiny Rebel will help the festival reach new heights, and has made a commitment to sponsor the event for the next three years.

Bradley Cummings, from Tiny Rebel, said: “We had a fantastic experience of the festival last year. Urban Tap House had yet to officially open but we ran a roaring trade from our pop-up bar and a huge amount of interest from the public in our beer and new venue.

“We’re a proud Newport business so coming on board as headline sponsor of the festival is a great honour. We look forward to helping develop the newly emphasised drink aspect of the celebration and raising awareness of the festival throughout South Wales and beyond.”

This year’s Tiny Rebel Newport Food and Drink Festival will host around 80 stalls, as well as the return of the popular Teenchef competition and expert chef demonstrations. The main activities will centre on High Street, and the areas in and around Newport Market will again have a local focus.

Councillor Debbie Wilcox, leader of Newport City Council, said: “It’s great that such a successful Newport company has come on board to support this major Newport event. The food festival has proved to be a great day out and is growing annually in popularity.

"Around 15,000 people filled the city centre last year, and we want to see even more on the day and at the supporting events.

“We look forward to working with Tiny Rebel – not only by incorporating their products and ethos of fun into the festival offering, but also by learning from their rapid growth and great reputation and using this to really boost awareness of the festival.”

The Tiny Rebel story all began in 2008 with founders Bradley Cummings and Gareth Williams. From simple beginnings in a garage, their experiments with homebrew soon gathered pace and in 2012 they made Maesglas Industrial Estate, Newport, their brewing business’s home.

In November 2015 they opened their second Urban Tap House craft beer bar on High Street in Newport’s city centre – right at the heart of food festival territory.

They are the current holders of the Supreme Champion Beer of Britain award and the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) Brewery Business of the Year.

Tiny Rebel is putting plans in place for a number of bespoke events at Urban Tap House Newport in the run-up to the festival day which will expand and complement the festival offering.

For more information on the 2016 Tiny Rebel Newport Food and Drink Festival visit: www.newportfoodfestival.co.uk.