THE weekend starts for Bristol at the Harbourside this Friday evening as Foodies Festival hosts a ‘Welcome the Weekend Party’ with Riot Bar, a new pop-up experience that takes centre stage at the latest leg of the UK’s biggest celebration of food and drink.

Locals are invited to join the party, free of charge, after work between 5pm and 8pm on Friday 11th July and relax in the Ibiza style lounge with giant beanbags and hammocks with a cocktail in hand - The perfect way to end the week, with a seriously cool combo of colourful cocktails and Balearic grooves courtesy of local DJs Gary Magic and James Dyer.

The festival also has a host of other treats in store for visitors with guest appearances from top chefs including 2014 MasterChef winner Ping Coombes, the newly unveiled MasterChef Street Food Bus, Producers’ Market and an eclectic line-up of live music.

A Street Food Avenue offers party-goers a huge selection of award winning hot and cold food from around the world including hog roasts, exotic meats, tapas, churros, burritos, Moroccan tagines, South American prime beef, Jamaican and Thai street food.