SEAFOOD FESTIVAL: Weymouth Town Councillor as shocked as residents over ticket fee
Nyetimber Dorset Seafood Festival respond to residents anger over the £10 charge
Last updated 4th Mar 2021
There's outrage from local residents as organisers of the Nyetimber Dorset Seafood festival are charging £10 a ticket to enter this year's event.
Usually held on Weymouth Harbour this summer's event will be at the Weymouth peninsula, behind the Pavilion Theatre, and will run slightly later than usual on the 11th and 12th of September.
Nyetimber Dorset Seafood Festival say ticket holders are paying for a change of location and visitor safety. It also means they can offer a discount to stall holders.
But, Councillors say charging ticket holders £10 was never discussed with Weymouth town Council at a Services meeting earlier on in the year.
Dorset Council have confirmed organisers are paying for half the money lost from car parking spaces at the peninsula over the four days.
Westham East Town Councillor Alex Fuhrmann said:
"We talked about the seafood festival and the positive impact it has on the Fisherman's Mission charity, but at no point was it discussed that due to the change of location and Covid that there was going to be a charge or exclusive ticket event."
"I understand that it's a new location and there are many safety aspects around public health and making the sure the festival goers feel safe.
"One resident said to me 'it's a local event and we should support it' but I just think it gets to £40 for a family of four.
"Some people just want to go and check out what's going on and they're not there for the fully invested £150 on champagne and all that kind of stuff."
IT STARTED AS A LOCAL EVENT THAT LOCAL PEOPLE WENT TO
Alex said most residents are annoyed because the festival started as a local event that local people went to.
"It wasn't like it was this massive avalanche of visitors coming to the first year of this seafood festival. It's developed and its grown because Weymouth residents started going and it was our love for seafood. From sea to table dining that, that really grew this and you can see this in the town because there are all kinds of restaurants specialising in seafood now.
"For years residents have seen the tourists catered for in this town, we need to make sure that the focus remains on residents. Could there be a discount for residents, is there compensation or voucher that residents can use next year?"
WILL NYETIMBER DORSET SEAFOOD FESTIVAL DROP THE FEE?
Alex said it's something Weymouth Town Councillors want to discuss.
"Weymouth Town Councillors want to have it discussed in the tourism arts, events and festivals group. I look forward to getting in to those discussions as a member of that group and the services committee but, ultimately, it comes with everybody having a chat about it.
"Lets not worry about putting out the fire before we know there is one, I'd hope that the company, Dorset Council and Weymouth Town Council can get on the same page and have come dialogue because clearly the residents have made their feelings known and we can see if we can get to a place where we can find at least some sort of agreement or something where we can move forward"
A STATEMENT FROM DORSET COUNCIL
"Dorset Council has agreed with the organisers of the Seafood Festival that they may use the space at the Peninsula in Weymouth over four days in September. The organiser will pay half the lost car parking income and Weymouth Town Council and Weymouth Harbour are supporting the festival.
"The location was moved at the request of the organisers to allow for social distancing. In making this decision Dorset Council had to consider businesses along the quay and provide space for their expansion. This decision will help support all businesses.
"We have no comment to make on the ticket entrance fee that the organisers have decided to charge."
Organisers of the Nyetimber Dorset Seafood Festival hope this can be a temporary move and return to a free festival at their usual location in future years:
"Although things are looking up with vaccines underway, we want to be very responsible in our planning for the event, which usually attracts 50,000+ people to the harbourside. We need to allow for some form of social distancing (should it still be a requirement) and NHS test and trace. Ticketing the event is the simplest and most straightforward way of managing those visitor numbers safely.
"The event itself is run by a small Weymouth-based business. We have made the difficult decision to charge a fee for the tickets this year. This change is in order to cover the additional costs of having to relocate the event and make it safe for visitors to attend in the current environment and is necessary to protect the future of the event given the postponement of 2020.
"We can only manage all of this at a new location - hence the move to the peninsula site.
"The changes also mean we're able to offer discounted stand space this year. This benefits the many local traders who already take a stall, and other local businesses are welcome to apply too - their support would help protect the event for future years, which is something that's in everyone's interest."