Here at Shropshire Festivals, we are passionate about supporting small, independent producers, which is why those are the businesses we work with at Shrewsbury Food Festival.

To help local up-and-coming businesses and to ensure we have the best variety of stalls, we support up to three businesses every year with our bursary scheme.

At last year’s festival, one of our bursary businesses was Ledders Sauce Company. They are a small, local business from Wellington that specialises in fresh, full-flavour products, like their signature ‘Ledders Extreme Hot Sauce’.

Owner, Colin Ledsom, shared his experience of being a bursary business…

“Why should you apply for a Bursary Grant at the Shrewsbury Food Festival, run by Shropshire Festivals, and what sort of business would benefit? Not only that, but why am I qualified to answer those questions?

My name is Colin Ledsom, and I am the owner of Ledders Sauce Company Ltd, a new business based in Shropshire that makes artisan chilli (hot) sauces. After lengthy debates and meetings, I decided to launch my range of sauces, previously only available to family and friends, to the public at large. The company was officially launched in June 2025 from scratch.

I needed truthful verification from the public at large that the sauces I made were as good as my close friends and family told me. Not that I totally disbelieved them, but true validation would come from the public, and especially the ‘foodie’ types that frequent food festivals.

So after some research on food festivals, I was drawn to the Shrewsbury Food Festival - excellent reviews, great footfall, and a great variety of foods, drink and related items. Live music and so much more. When I enquired about the costs, I was a little nervous. It was a sum of money that I had no idea if I would get a return on, as we were a brand new company, and never ever done one of these before. To say I had no idea what to expect would be an understatement. So a friend introduced me to Beth, who owns and runs Shropshire Festivals. Within minutes, I felt at ease and she suggested that I apply for one of the limited number of bursary places.

After reading about bursary rates at other festivals, most were just a discounted rate for new small companies like mine. One of the reasons I chose Shrewsbury was that the bursary scheme was not just a discounted stall. Beth’s company was interested in more than just filling spaces. Her company, through this scheme, offered business support in a number of areas, including IT, business development and more, all as part of the bursary programme. I was so fortunate to be accepted. So, at that point I started preparing my stall. I then got a call from BBC Radio Shropshire. They had heard, through Shropshire Festivals, that I was a new local business and attending the Shrewsbury Festival via the Bursary scheme. I was invited to appear live on the breakfast show to discuss the scheme, my business, and engage with the breakfast team and sample my sauces. This was an incredible opportunity for free advertising throughout Shropshire! I have to say, it worked too!

So, the festival arrives… I am so nervous; we’ve given a major push on local BBC radio, various local social media outlets, and now it's down to the real people.

To cut a long story short, I had no need to worry. The festival was packed with people, we were offering tasting of the sauces and selling in numbers I could not really believe. The whole weekend was incredibly organised, safe, and so much fun. The other stall holders were friendly, the facilities all clean, just a dream. Even the breakdown on Sunday was like clockwork.

Since then, my company has gone viral. We have over 11 local stockists and have attended 10 festival inside the 6 months from June. Some by ‘demand’!

So, if you are a small, new company and are thinking… “should I”… then do it - speak to the team and apply for a bursary. It was literally the best thing I could have done, and I owe Beth and her team a great deal of thanks.”

Thank you for your lovely words Colin!

You can apply for a bursary stand at Shrewsbury Food Festival 2026 by clicking the button below.

Apply Here