VISITORS to the town's annual Victorian Street Market on Monday will be given the full flavour of Bolton Festival . . . in more ways than one.

In addition to sampling a taste of festival fun, families will get the chance to take part in a BBC filmed Ready Steady Cook -- on wheels!

The colourful street market on Le Mans Crescent in the town centre has been chosen as the perfect backdrop for a new BBC programme to be filmed for the digital channel, UK Food, which will be launched in November.

A catering truck will be taken to locations throughout the UK and up and coming professional chefs will compete against one another by preparing and serving a dish from common ingredients. The food will then be offered to members of the public who will decide on a winner.

Bolton Festival co-ordinator, Steve Stubbs, said: "This is one of the first television food shows where the public is allowed to taste the food and judge for themselves whether the meal is a success or not. The competition will add to the fun of the day with the added bonus that Bolton, and the festival, will be seen on television by up to three million people."

In addition to the filmed cookery competition, the street market will feature its usual variety of stalls, manned by stallholders in traditional Victorian costume.

Each year the market raises thousands of pounds for charities, which many of the fundraisers also manning the stalls.