Ashby's Food Gusto weekend attracted big crowds to the Bath Grounds - the first event under the new management team of Kendal and Buckley Harris.

The brothers made the step up from being exhibitors at the event, to actually running it.

Now they are in talks with Ashby de la Zouch Town Council to make sure the Christmas Market takes place as usual in December.

The pair have huge experience as caterers and in running small events. But now they have stepped up to take the reins at Gusto.

Buckley spoke to Ashby Nub News on Saturday to talk about taking over from Alison Ewing, who brought the event back to the Bath Grounds last year following the Covid pandemic.

He said: "For many years we'd been an exhibitor, selling pulled pork, I knew they were good events. When the opportunity came up to take over, I couldn't wait to try and have a go.

Buckley Harris - with brother Kendal - has taken over the running of Ashby Food Gusto

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"I've always had a soft spot for the events - this one every year has a good feel to it and a good vibe with nice people.

"It's a good park here, and they always seem to get the crowd, even when there's not an event. This is special, definitely.

"It's a step up for us, we've always been in catering, doing different events. But it's nice to be on the other side of the fence for a change, although there is a lot of work goes into it and I can understand the pressures involved.

"For a first event, we had a few hiccups, but nothing major. Nothing that couldn't be sorted out. It's great for the town, Alison has been involved to guide us through in the right way and put us on the right path.

"She's been fantastic actually, but we've got the gist of it now I think."

Buckley said the transition has been almost seamless - and visitors would have seen many of the familiar exhibitors and stalls.

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He added: "We're still known as Food Gusto, and the event will continue with the same name, same stallholders, keeping local people and local produce, it's just the same as what Alison was doing.

"We also hope to expand to different places with these events, if things go well. We're based in Doncaster, but we don't mind the travel when you have an event like this in Ashby.

I'd actually like to live in Ashby, I think it's a lovely place. It looks like we had a couple of thousand people through the gates each day, it was good to see people queueing to come in. Importantly, the weather was kind to us."