Big Burns Supper festival in Dumfries postponed due to Covid

Nish Kumar was among the acts due to be part of the Big Burns Supper festival

The Big Burns Supper festival in Dumfries has been postponed due to the spread of the Omicron Covid variant.

Organisers said they had taken the "difficult decision" to put off the event - due to start on 14 January.

A free Burns Night show will be broadcast on its Facebook and YouTube channels on 25 January instead.

It is hoped a new summer edition of the festival can run from 10 to 26 June at the Loreburn Hall in the town instead of the Spiegeltent venue.

Comedians Russell Kane, Nish Kumar and Rosie Jones were among the headline acts announced for the 2022 festival.

It had been hoped it would be "as close to normal as possible" after being held as a virtual event in January this year.

An online concert with Eddi Reader will be broadcast online on 25 January

However, the spread of Omicron has prompted the decision to postpone the latest edition.

Organisers said the majority of shows would be rescheduled and customers would be offered - where possible - the chance to exchange their tickets or seek a refund.

"We will be writing to customers to let them know how their show is being rescheduled as soon as possible," a statement said.

"We take the responsibility of public health and safety seriously, and despite the obvious benefits the festival brings to our well-being, it would be impossible for us to deliver an event as large as Big Burns Supper without compromising the quality of the festival.

"We are hugely grateful to our partners who have been incredibly supportive of this decision, but equally our artists and suppliers who have been working with our team to reschedule our entire festival."

It said they would be writing to customers in the new year to let them know if their show would be part of the summer event.

The statement added they would try to process any refunds requested as quickly as possible.

Last week Deacon Blue, Amy Macdonald and Del Amitri were among the big names who postponed shows in the run up to Christmas amid concerns about the new variant.

Over the weekend a number of panto and theatre shows were cancelled due to suspected Covid cases.