Customers 'left in limbo' after event venue closes

Bev (L) and Sarah Milner-Simonds are the organisers of Eat Festivals

A popular venue for weddings, exhibitions and events has closed suddenly after changing its events operator, leaving customers with bookings "in limbo" over its future.

Those who had booked the Winter Gardens on Weston-super-Mare's seafront have been told their reservations have been cancelled to allow the site to be refurbished.

Weston College, which owns the site, says booking deposits will be refunded by the former operator Roybiz Hospitality Ltd, whose lease will not be renewed.

It added it would "endeavour to honour existing community events where possible" during May, June and July, and have even offered to help customers find alternative venues.

Weston College said they had "recently made the decision to change the operator"

Bev Milner-Simmonds is the organiser of Eat Weston Food Festival, which was scheduled to partly take place at the Winter Gardens in November.

She said their reservation had been booked for more than 18 months before it was cancelled "out of the blue".

"Eat Weston is a well-loved, established festival in Weston," she said. "To suddenly find out one half of our festival is now in jeopardy was so shocking.

"One of the most successful events of the year on the run-up to Christmas has now been put in jeopardy, by some pretty poor management by the looks of it.

"It's an absolute mystery to me why a commercial business wouldn't want the venue to have a full event calendar. We're left in limbo at the moment," she added.

Roybiz Hospitality Ltd declined to comment at this time.

The festival hosts live performances inside the venue during winter

Ms Milner-Simmonds said her "heart goes out" to the 130 local food and drink vendors who relied on the winter festival for income.

"We work with micro and small family businesses but we may have to cancel half of our pitches if we don't find an alternative," she explained.

Weston College said it aimed to provide "clarity and reassurance" to the community during what it called a "transitional period".

In a statement, it said: "We recently made the decision to change the operator/tenant responsible for managing events at the venue.

"Weston College understands the frustration this may have caused and is actively supporting affected groups.

"Once we move past this operator transfer, this new chapter will bring a fresh focus on quality, accessibility, and community engagements."

Weston College decided not to renew the current operator's lease

The venue will be closed for what has been described as essential refurbishment work and the transferring of licences.

Once completed, the Winter Gardens is set to reopen under its new management, Inspirational Events and Investments Ltd, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Weston College.

A community event on 7 June is set to mark the reopening of the ballroom, with live music, performances and interactive experiences scheduled in the neighbouring Italian Gardens.