Stranraer Oyster Festival off the menu until 2022

The festival is a celebration of the oyster beds of south west Scotland

A major food festival in south west Scotland has been cancelled for the second year in a row.

Organisers said it was "impossible to guarantee" a safe edition of Stranraer Oyster Festival for locals and visitors this September.

The event drew more than 17,000 people to the shores of Loch Ryan when it was last held in 2019.

It is now hoped the event - which includes the Scottish Oyster Shucking Championship - will return in 2022.

The festival was set up to celebrate the native oyster beds in the area and first ran in 2017.

Romano Petrucci, who chairs Stranraer Development Trust which runs the event, said he was sorry to announce it could not go ahead on the planned dates from 10-12 September.

Thousands of people attended the last edition of the festival

"We have been working very hard behind the scenes to explore approaches that might allow our festival to return this year," he said.

"We carried out a very thorough examination of all the possibilities, but circumstances make it impossible for us to guarantee a festival that is safe for our community and safe for our visitors at this time."

He said it was "tempting to be optimistic" but they had a responsibility to put the community first.

He added that waiting to make a decision until later in the year was "not an option".

"By the time 2022 and the next planned Stranraer Oyster Festival comes around, it will be a staggering and very sobering three years since we last all gathered for such a wonderful weekend celebrating our local oysters," he said.

"For now, all we can do is apologise for this year's cancellation and wish each and every one of you a safe, happy and healthy summer."