Wow – how time flies! It has been 2 years since Andrew Smith and Goran Vodicka published this report on how community groups perceive ticketed events that are staged in London’s parks. And what a lot has happened since July 2020.
The pandemic highlighted the vulnerability of external sources of income such as events and festivals: research carried out by the Local Government Association and NLHF (2021), found that local parks lost significant income when social distancing measures were in place; Watford estimated losses of £86K while Leeds faced a £8.8m shortfall. That is massive.
But we are back in the full throe of festival time! The month of July saw London’s Wireless Festival in Finsbury Park (capacity 45,000) and Sheffield’s Tramlines Festival (capacity 30,000). It was interesting to read a review of Wireless which had a number of delays throughout the line-up, meaning that sets by Nicky Minaj and H.E.R were cut short. Because these take place in public spaces, there is no flexibility or overrunning. There is a time limit to events which run into the night. At Wireless 2022 in Finsbury Park, the acts finished at 10.30pm prompt.
These events have to be carefully considered for the residents living around these destination parks. A different bone of contention at Sheffield’s Tramlines festival has been that residents are no longer allowed to re-enter the site if they leave. This was a Covid-related change but it’s not clear why the no re-entry policy has been retained. It is definitely something that local festival goers are cheesed off about. Being able to re-enter in 2018 and 2019 meant families with children could drop them off home (or quickly walk the dog) and parents could go back for more! It also meant that local businesses could benefit from extra revenue. This decision is something that events organisers should reconsider.
Of course, not all residents want a music festival happening in their local park and try and strike a balance. In Leazes Park in Newcastle, LooseFest will run in line with conditions that were drawn up by Newcastle City Council’s licensing sub-committee. There can only be six days of large-scale events per year (large = between 500 and 15,000 attendees). Events must end at 10.30pm and everyone has to leave the site by 11pm (an hour earlier on a Sunday). At Tramlines, headline acts go to bed earlier in Sheffield, finishing at 10pm (9pm on Sunday). The Saturday night headliner at Tramlines, Kasabian, actually finished at 9.50pm – bonus for the residents!
Up to 30,000 people attend Tramlines over one weekend in July
Look at the set-up of other events and the re-opening of the closed off areas, and you’ll see that they can be significant amounts of time. For Wireless, which ran from Friday-Sunday 8-10 July 2022, the organisers start the event build in the park on 29 June with a view to leaving the park by Friday 22 July: a whopping 24 days. For Tramlines, they estimate 19 days to get the park re-opened to the public.
In true Festival style, there were over-priced rides, food and drinks at Tramlines. I waited till the music stopped and got my chip buttie tea in Hillsborough!
I live up the hill from Hillsborough Park and was lucky enough to go to Tramlines this year. And it was brilliant! I was acutely aware that I was in one of my local parks, but it was amazing how it transformed into a festival village! I know they’re not everyone’s cup of tea, and they really should let local residents re-enter the festival to provide business to the local shops. I personally could not have made it back up the hill without my nightly chip butties from the local chip shop!
Enjoying great, family atmosphere at the end of Tramlines…in search of the chip shop!