Food festival under review as other events axed

The organisers of a food and drink festival in Staffordshire have paused trader applications while an "urgent internal review" is undertaken.

The Lichfield Food and Drink Festival is scheduled to take place on 23-25 August, and the news follows the cancellation of the Yorkshire Dales Food and Drink Festival, by the same organisers, which had been due to take place later this month.

Jon Arrowsmith, managing director of Cocker Hoop Creative, said there had been "too many challenges" to make the Yorkshire event work.

Lichfield District Council said it was "deeply concerned" about the impact of the cancellation on traders and ticket holders.

A spokesperson for the authority said: "We have requested that Cocker Hoop Creative provide us with detailed information by lunchtime Wednesday, and we have instructed them to suspend sales of trader pitches for the August Lichfield Food Festival until we have concluded our review."

They said the review would enable them to decide whether or not to allow the company to continue with events planned in the Lichfield district.

In a post on Facebook, Cocker Hoop Creative said: "Following our decision last week to cancel the Yorkshire Dales Food & Drink Festival we have taken the decision to suspend trader applications until we have undertaken a full investigation and Lichfield District Council have undertaken their own review - which we have agreed to and fully support."

A spokesperson for the firm told the BBC: "We understand that following our decision to cancel the food festival in Skipton, Lichfield District Council is seeking reassurances that our plans for this year's Lichfield Food Festival are still achievable.

"We have organised this festival for nine years, and we are working closely with the council on our plans."

Another event, due to take place at Bishton Hall and Gardens in September, has also been cancelled.

In a post online, The Limelight Orchestra said it was unable to perform at the Disco Classical event "due to circumstances beyond our control, which relate to the arrangements made by the promoter, Cocker Hoop Creative Ltd."

The orchestra said it hoped to bring the event to a nearby location next year, adding this would have no affiliation with Cocker Hoop Creative.

But the spokesperson for Cocker Hoop Creative denied this was the case, stating: "Cocker Hoop Creative is not the promoter of this event and is not involved in its delivery."

They said Cocker Hoop had helped Limelight with some of the event logistics, but did not manage the ticket sales or promotion of the event, and were not sure why they were named.

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