Anglesey Oktoberfest event branded a shambles after queues

  • Published
Y ciw a 5 o'r glochImage source, Robin Williams
Image caption,

The organisation of a beer festival on Anglesey has been branded a shambles

Hundreds of unhappy people have complained about huge queues and long waits to get served at a beer festival.

About 3,000 people bought tickets for an Oktoberfest event at Anglesey Show Ground on Saturday at £10 each, or £75 for a table of six.

Some branded the planning "disgraceful" and a "shambles". Hundreds on Facebook demanded a refund.

Oktoberfest Cymru 2022 organisers accepted there were problems but said the atmosphere was "incredible."

Image source, Twitter/@Bailey83m
Image caption,

About 3,000 people bought tickets for the Oktoberfest event

They had promised a "huge beer hall atmosphere", "table service from waitresses in traditional German dress", a sausage eating contest and entertainment from Bavarian oompah bands.

Speaking on Radio Cymru's Dros Frecwast programme, Robin Williams, of Menai Bridge, said he and his friends queued for an hour-and-a-quarter to get through security.

The councillor said although they paid extra for table service there were no waiters and they had to queue about an hour-and-a-half for a drink.

"Many people had gone to a lot of effort to get fancy dress and that kind of thing," Mr Williams said.

"Having looked forward to the event it turned out to be an extremely disappointing experience. We arrived shortly after 16:30, we then stood in a queue for an hour and a quarter."

Image source, Dan Jackson
Image caption,

Hundreds on Facebook demanded a refund

The bar, he said, could not cope with the number of people who attended.

Oktoberfest Cymru 2022 said the queue was slow as they needed to search all customers.

It said there would be changes made if the event returned to Anglesey, adding queues for drinks formed because of "technical issues" with the bar.

Image caption,

Robin Williams called the event "an extremely disappointing experience"

"Working with new suppliers in a new location always comes with its challenges and while we are grateful for the hard work put in by everyone on the bar, we have bought our relationship with them to a close today with immediate effect," an event spokesman said.

"Once the queue died down the atmosphere in the event was incredible. One of the best group of party people we've had join us over the years."

Related topics