MICHELIN chef Hywel Jones will hold a cooking demonstration at Newport Market hours before it finally reopens its High Street entrance.

The Newport-born chef will make an exclusive appearance at the Victorian market treating guests to culinary delights next Friday evening [October 4].

The dinner will act as a curtain raiser to the city’s biggest celebration of gastronomy, Newport Food Festival, set to be held on Saturday.

Crowds of foodies are expected to flock to the indoor market to attend cookery masterclasses.

And for the first time in a year, shoppers will browse the market food stalls and eateries through its revamped entrance in the High Street.

Stallholders hope the re-opening of the front entrance will help bring back customers to the market, which has suffered plummeting sales since the refurbishment began last October.

AD Turner & Sons butcher Mike Turner, 44, said: “We have lost so much trade. Customers are losing the will.”

Terry Gay, 62, of the Negative Zone comic book stall, added: “We are just praying this is going to make a difference. People here are hung by their fingernails.”

Mr Jones, the head chef of the Michelin-starred Lucknam Park Hotel in Bath, is a patron of the food festival this year.

He said: “I was honoured to be asked to become a patron of the festival, something that means a great deal to both myself and my family.

“Newport is currently undergoing a huge transformation and I believe that its food culture has a huge role to play in this.”

A Newport council spokeswoman said yesterday [September 25]: “Works to the market are nearing competition and there will be some key visible changes in the coming weeks.

“The main entrance will be open for the Newport Food Festival when crowds of visitors will be welcomed into the city centre.

“Internal works will continue for a number of weeks after and the council will then be working with tenants as they move back into their newly created shops.”