Ashton Court Festival alcohol ban

bristol | community | announcement Thursday June 21, 2007 20:58 by Ashton

Is this the final nail in the coffin of this great community event?

The Evening Post reports that the organisers of Ashton Court Festival are banning punters from bringing their own alcohol, and will be searching everyone's bags on entry. There is nothing on the ACF website about this new regulation, so it would be good if the organisers could explain their rationale. If anything is going to kill this festival it is (paid) security staff confiscating booze from people who were unaware of the ban, turning people away who have paid for tickets and carried crates of beer for miles, and the inevitable hour-long queues at the gate and bar. What on earth are they thinking? This is just going to encourage otherwise paying punters to gatecrash, and no doubt there will be vandalism from pissed-up and pissed-off idiots angry that they are on the wrong side of the fence missing out on the fun. I fear this really could be the end of the festival, unless the organisers move fast and reverse their decision.