A TWO day street food festival is set to take place in Southampton this weekend.

Hoglands Park is set to be transformed into a street food paradise across Saturday and Sunday.

Named The Hampshire Food and Drink Emporium, the event is set bring together dozens of vendors, including some from the city, for a celebration of all-things food.

The festival, which will also include live music and entertainment, is being organised by Portsmouth-based firm The Village Pop Up.

It will the first time the company has held the festival in Southampton.

Event manager, Tobi Stidolph, said: “We are really excited to be coming to Southampton.

“We’ve been holding events in Portsmouth and Southsea for the last six years and we’ve been looking to expand further into Hampshire.

“It will be a family-friendly event for people who want to come and try some really nice food and drink.”

The two-day event is set include up to 40 stands, organisers say.

They also hope to attract up to 500 people a day to the festival.

Tobi, 24, said the idea for the festival was inspired by an event held by his parents outside their coffee shop in Portsmouth.

He said: “My parents used to hold an event named Castle Road Day where they would shut off the road the shop was on and bring people together to try and put our road on the map.

“That’s really where the idea came from and we are trying to do the same thing for small businesses, because events like this can help give a platform.”

Tobi added: “Hopefully if it is a success we can come back next year and maybe expand into more places such as Winchester.”

The event is free to attend and will be open to the public from 11am to 7pm on both days of the festival.

On Saturday, visitors will be treated to live music by Southampton-based dark electronic pop artist, WREN, as well as Thomas Seyah, Calum Lintott and others.

On Sunday, Southampton-based group The Tuba Libres will be playing, as well as other performers including The Cicardians and Emily Rose Ireland.