The New Mills Band Leader alongside the Alsfeld Band Leader at New Mills Oktoberfest 2026

It was a real honour to be asked to cover the inaugral New Mills Oktoberfest this year. Not only because it was guaranteed to be a good day, but also to see first-hand the effort and energy that had gone in to organising it. The brainchild of the team behind New Mills Market Hall, the Oktoberfest could have been something simple, cliched, almost soulless. But that isn’t how the Market Hall team work, at all. They’re super proud of their town and community, and really wanted to showcase that.

When the Oktoberfest theme had been decided, the team knew they wanted to get in some authentic brass bands to play. But how authentic? They managed to arrange for the brass band of New Mills’ German Twin Town, Alsfeld, to fly over and perform all weekend too. Now that is authentic Oktoberfest!

Alongside the New Mills Brass Band, and loads of pilsner, the free event rightly attracted loads of people on to Main Street. Families, hipsters, locals, all on site to enjoy a genuinely fantastic and worthwhile community event. New Mills Oktoberfest 2026 – hopefully the first of many – was a huge success. Wunderbar!