Bath Reggae Festival postponed day before event

The inaugural Bath Reggae Festival was due to take place at Kensington Meadows in Bath on Saturday

Organisers of the first reggae festival in Bath have cancelled the event with just over 12 hours to go.

More than 2,000 music fans were expected to head to the inaugural Bath Reggae Festival on Saturday.

Organisers had some final hurdles to get over by midday on Friday to get the licence approved, according to Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Bath and North East Somerset Council (Banes) has now said the organisers have decided to postpone the event.

Organised by VIP Production, the event was due to take place at Kensington Meadows in the city.

But in a statement, the council said it was notifying residents that organisers had "decided to postpone their event".

It added that ticket holders were being asked "not to travel to the site" and to contact the organisers for further details.

'Last-minute approach'

On the festival's website, organisers said it was "with great regret" they were announcing the event's postponement "until a later date".

"Unfortunately, in the last day a few of our key infrastructure contacts fell through and we would not have been able to produce the event correctly," they said.

They added that news about refunds would "come soon".

Organisers were criticised for their last-minute approach and lack of basic information in the application, according to LDRS.

Despite making it "extremely difficult" for the council, the event had been given a partial go-ahead at a licensing subcommittee meeting on Thursday.

But VIP Production was given a deadline of midday on Friday to get other details to the council and it was unclear whether that deadline had been met or not.