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BBC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Yorkshire Dales Food and Drink Festival in Skipton is cancelled
A food and drink festival has been cancelled due to "too many challenges" in staging it, its organisers have Yorkshire Dales Food and Drink Festival was set to be held in Aireville Park in Skipton between 18-20 a number of the guests have pulled out of the festival in recent days, including Saturday Kitchen host James Martin and chef Rosemary Arrowsmith, managing director of Cocker Hoop Creative, who organised the event, said they had "simply run out of time" to make the festival work. He said: "It is with a heavy heart that I must admit defeat and share the news that the Yorkshire Dales Food and Drink Festival will not go ahead this year."This is not a decision I have taken lightly. We have worked tirelessly over the last year to stage a festival that Yorkshire could be proud of, but there were too many challenges that we could not foresee at the start of this journey and too little time to fix them."He went on to say how the group had saved the festival from administration last year after it had been cancelled when the company behind it, Events by B3 Ltd, went into Arrowsmith said they had since "poured our heart and soul into rebuilding and reimaging the event". He said: "We offered 200 traders a free pitch. We lined up thousands of free masterclasses. We invited amazing chefs and music acts to join us."When we lost our original location (Funkirk Farm near Skipton), the clock started ticking, and even with the best will in the world, we simply ran out of time to make it work at Aireville Park."I'm completely heartbroken and desperately sorry for letting everyone down."Earlier this week, James Martin and Galton Blackiston both said on social media that "circumstances outside my control" meant they would no longer be able to attend the event. Rosemary Shrager also confirmed she would not be appearing either, although no reason was Diaram, who appeared on Masterchef in 2023, said it was "disappointing" that guests had been withdrawing from the said: "A festival of this scale is a huge task involving thousands of people. However the health and wellbeing of all the people involved must be a priority." Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Chef James Martin drops out of Yorkshire Dales food festival
Celebrity chefs James Martin and Galton Blackiston have pulled out of this year's Yorkshire Dales Food and Drink Festival, it has been chefs informed fans via social media that "circumstances outside my control" meant they would no longer be able to attend the event at Skipton's Aireville Park later this performers Brutus Gold's Love Train also announced their withdrawal "due to the organiser's failure to meet contractual obligations".Festival organisers Cocker Hoop Creative Ltd denied the claim and assured ticketholders that suitable replacements would be arranged for the cancelled appearances. The three-day festival, which was founded in 2015 and previously took place at Funkirk Farm in Skipton, features street food and pop-up restaurants as well as masterclasses with celebrity was cancelled last year after the company behind it, Events by B3 Ltd, went into liquidation, with Cocker Hoop Creative later acquiring the festival's assets and intellectual property. In almost identical statements, posted on social media, James Martin and Galton Blackiston said they would no longer attend this year's event, which takes place from 18 to 20 July."Unfortunately, due to circumstances outside of my control, I will no longer be appearing at the Yorkshire Dales Food and Drink Festival," the statements said."Please contact the organisers if you have any questions."Cocker Hoop Creative's managing director, Jon Arrowsmith, said they were "gutted" about the withdrawal, explaining they had been unable to reach a compromise with Martin."Galton cancelling we didn't even know about," he said, adding that an update would be issued at a later date once new chefs for the line-up were confirmed. 'Challenges' "When we took this festival on, we knew there were going to be challenges," Mr Arrowsmith said."We didn't realise how much was going to come against us but as a team and working with the council and all the local businesses working together, we're going to get this right. "We're going to give you a weekend you're going to love."The current line-up includes celebrity chefs Rosemary Shrager and Simon Rimmer and would have seen Brutus Gold's Love Train provide musical the group said on Wednesday it had withdrawn from the event, citing "the organiser's failure to meet contractual obligations, including non-payment."Mr Arrowsmith disputed the claim, stating that the entertainers were dropped due to members of the group allegedly being "abusive and rude".Brutus Gold's Love Train declined to comment on the allegation. Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
