A vibrant culinary market with live music and street food is to attract hungry visitors to Deal seafront this weekend.

Food vendors have today pitched up their stalls for the event called the Late Summer Market.

It replaces the annual Deal Food & Drink Festival held at Deal Castle, which is not being held in its usual guise because of Covid restrictions.

From today until Sunday, visitors will be able to choose from a wide selection of freshly prepared street foods, artisan grocery products, arts, crafts, clothing and accessories or enjoy a tipple by the sea from the Famous Last Stand bar.

It - like the food festival - is organised by Zoom Events whose director Paul Kennedy said: "We are excited to be returning to Deal for a second time in 2020 following a successful summer market in July as lockdown measures were eased."

It will feature a different layout to the regular Deal Food & Drink Festival to accommodate social distancing and extra sanitation measures.

This year it will be missing face painting, cooking demos and the designated music stage, but live music will be performed.

Mr Kennedy added: "We want to create a relaxing experience that is also safe for people to enjoy at this time."

Stalls will feature many local traders as well as those from further afield, with familiar faces and some brand-new additions.

Street foods include pork or chicken souvlaki, crepes, German sausages, arepas, churros and traditional Mexican, Chinese or Thai dishes.

Tables in the outdoor seating area will be distanced. There will be a queuing systems for the bar and food outlets.

Handmade groceries include continental fine foods, chocolate muffins, fudge and locally produced Chutneys.

Unique arts, crafts, clothing and accessories are booked to compliment the food offers.

Mr Kennedy added: "We hope the Deal Late Summer Market will provide a safe, relaxing outdoor shopping experience for local people to look forward to during these uncertain times.

"We are also starting to plan our events for 2021, when we hope that things will have returned to normal so that we can bring back all of the elements that have made our Deal Food & Drink Festival successful in previous years."

Deal Late Summer Market is open until 6pm today, 9am to 7pm on Saturday and 10am to 5pm on Sunday.

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