Beer festival cancelled over loos and red tape

10:49am Thursday 6th April 2006

THOUSANDS of beer lovers will be left high and dry this year because the popular Devizes Beer Festival has had to be axed.

Increased costs due to the licensing law changes and the impending closure of the public toilets forced organisers to take the decision to call off the event.

However, Don Jones, chairman of the Devizes branch of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) said the committee was still hoping to resurrect it for 2007.

He said they were very disappointed at cancelling this year's festival on July 1 as in the last seven years the event had built up a big following.

Last year tickets had to be bought in advance and all 1,400 were sold, a record number.

The licence for last year's festival cist just £10 from the town's magistrates court.

But following the recent changes to the licensing laws, the organisers would have to apply for a personal licence and a site licence.

Mr Jones said they would not only have to apply for a personal licence for two members of the committee, but they would also have to employ security officers rather than the volunteers they have previously used.

He said all these changes would cost around £2,000 and hiring toilets would cost about £1,000.

Mr Jones said: "The cancellation of the beer festival is due to a combination of things. We could have sorted out one of the problems but not all of them in time. We could have put the ticket prices up to cover these additional costs but it all seemed a bit much.

"CAMRA makes about £1,000 from the beer festival and that money goes back to furthering the work of CAMRA. We also donate money to local groups from customers' unused beer tokens.

"The closure of the public toilets at The Wharf by Kennet District Council is absolutely absurd and has stitched up the whole town. The Wharf is the closest Devizes has to a tourist car park and among the facilities tourists look for is a tearoom and public toilets."

Mr Jones has run the festival since it started in 1999 and said it was different to other beer festivals.

He said: "Ours is family orientated, is held outdoors and we have local bands playing. Ours has a European feel. The average consumption at our festival is three and a half pints per head which is really low especially when people are there for five to six hours.

"Customers have told us that it is one of the few festivals where people can come with their families and have an ice cream and a picnic. Other festivals tend to be held indoors, have a bit of music and the people who go there are predominantly male."

Mr Jones said they were determined the festival will return in 2007.

He said: "We will be back. It's a blip, it's not the end.

"We have got a whole year to plan. We don't know where it will be held, probably The Wharf if it not to be redeveloped. Whatever happens it will be outdoors. If we put it indoors it wouldn't be the same."