Rhubarb Festival

The Rhubarb Festival will take place in Wakefield City Centre from Friday 21 – Sunday 23 February 2025. 

The festival will run from 10am-5pm on Friday & Saturday and 10am-4pm on Sunday.

The festival will feature a speciality food and drink market, street entertainment, live music, free workshops, chef demos and fringe activity from our partners. 

Our friendly team of staff, security, first aiders and contractors will be on hand to offer any assistance.

You can find them in either Hi-Vis or Wakefield Council Uniform, look for ‘EVENT STAFF’ on their backs. 

Below you can find more details about the festival sites.

Cathedral Precinct

The precinct is mainly flat and the area can be easily navigated around without having to cross many steps and inclines.

A mapped area of festival site including accessible toilets can be found here.

The Bull Ring –Marquee with chef demos and Rhu-Bar.  

Northgate & Kirkgate – Speciality Market Stalls and Food Vendors. Please note that stalls will be positioned down the cathedral steps. Unfortunately it is not possible for us to provide ramps in this area but the stalls can be accessed by entering each level of the steps from the side.  

More information coming soon.

Other Sites

The Ridings Shopping Centre – Shopping area, rest spaces, quiet cafes and accessible facilities (baby changing facilities).  

Trinity Walk – Shopping area, rest spaces, cafes, restaurants and accessible facilities (changing facilities). 

Wakefield Museum & Library – Rhubarb themed activities and accessible facilities. 

The Events Team at Wakefield Council are passionate about providing an enjoyable experience that is accessible to all.  

Below you can find key accessibility information for the Rhubarb Festival.

There is also an accessibility map you can view here.

///What 3 Words locations have been provided for site locations. 

BSL – Chef Demos

There will be a BSL interpreter during some of the afternoon chef demos across the festival weekend.

The chef demos timetable can be found here.

The chef demos will take place in a marquee on the Bull Ring (adjoining the Rhu-bar) ///moved.fault.limp

Accessible Toilets

A portable disabled access toilet unit will be located on the Cathedral Precinct next to the chef demo marquee ///strike.duty.brief

However if you prefer, full accessible toilets can be found in The Ridings Shopping Centre ///park.jungle.jobs

Changing Places

There are 2 changing places located in Wakefield close to the festival site: 

Trinity Walk Shopping Centre ///begin.short.loans 

The Ridings Shopping Centre ///elaborate.pump.lowest

Accessible Parking

The closest and most convenient accessible parking to the Cathedral Precinct is The Ridings Shopping Centre or Trinity Walk Shopping Centre.

The Ridings Shopping Centre – They have in total over 1,000 spaces, including 43 blue badge holder spaces and 22 family parking bays all with direct access into the centre. WF1 1DS 

Trinity Walk – 1,000 spaces with Disabled parking located on the ground floor outside Sainsburys. WF1 1QQ  

Quiet Space 

At Treacy Hall  there will be a quiet space with sensory and mindful activities. This is brought to you by Wakefield Council’s Health Improvement Team

Friday & Saturday | 9am – 5pm

Sunday | 9am – 4pm

Location: Treacy Hall ///zeal.civil.uses

Quieter Visiting Times 

Please note this is not a ticketed event and therefore we cannot confirm what the site capacity will be on the day.

Previous years have shown Friday and Saturday as the busiest day and Sunday being slightly quieter. The crowds generally gather close to the stalls

Treacy Hall will be open during the event where welfare facilities and a quiet space can be found.  

Should you need any form of medical attention please inform a member of staff or security on site where they can show you where the medical tent is located or request for a medic to come to you.  

Unfortunately, we do not have any secure storage for medicines on site.  

Assistance dogs are welcomed to all areas of the event, this must be an assistance dog that is recognised by one of the official charitable organisations as members of Assistance Dogs UK.

Assistance dogs ONLY within the chef demo marquee.

Car Parking

There are numerous off-street and on-street car parking spaces in Wakefield City Centre.

Find a full list with details here.

There is also parking available at Trinity Walk and The Riding Shopping Centre.

Train

Wakefield Westgate Station

It is an approximately 10 minute walk from Wakefield Westgate Train Station to the Cathedral Precinct.

You can find station details here.

Wakefield Kirkgate Station

It is an approximately 15 minute walk from Wakefield Kirkgate Train Station to the Cathedral Precinct.

You can find station details here.

Bus

Wakefield Bus Station 

Wakefield Bus Station is an approximately 8 minute walk from the Cathedral Precinct.

You can find more information about bus services to Wakefield on the Arriva website here.

You can find out more on our getting here page.

We are continually updating event information for the Rhubarb Festival so please keep checking back on this page.  

If you do have any queries or feel that there is anything we can improve on, we are open to suggestions!

You can contact the team at:  festivals@wakefield.gov.uk