INTERVIEW: Morecambe Promenade pubs call for support as they launch new music festival

Licensees say pubs on Morecambe Promenade need support in tough economic times as they launched their new music festival.

Prom Fest will run on the first weekend in April (4th to 6th) with the idea of "spreading the festival season" which suffered a blow with the recent cancellation of this year's Vintage by the Sea.

Licensees have come together saying they have to "bring business to the Promenade themselves" during a difficult economic time for the hospitality sector.

More than 400 pubs in England and Wales either shut down or were repurposed in 2024, with the UK's hospitality sector continuing to face mounting costs, including changes to the alcohol duty system, higher energy bills, rising employer national insurance contributions and the National Living Wage, and falling discount on business rates.

So pubs on or near Morecambe Promenade including Shore Thing, The Royal Bar & Shaker, the Old Bank, The Pier, Soul Bowl, Kings Arms, Embargo, The Bath, The Boardwalk and the Brittlestar, have decided to take matters into their own hands to run their own series of live music festivals in the town.

LISTEN to Ryan Wallace from Shore Thing, and Chris Donaldson, Summer Jenkins and Jamie Walker from the Royal Bar & Shaker talking about Prom Fest

"I'm new to hospitality, last year was my first year, and it is surprisingly tough and getting tougher all the time," said Ryan Wallace, proprietor of Shore Thing on Marine Road Central.

"After the last Autumn Budget, things are going up and up and up again, and we do need the support of local people.

"What we're doing now is going to be great for a few weekends, but I think people need to understand if they don't go and use these businesses on the Promenade in Morecambe, people will be making decisions over the next few years about whether to carry on doing it."

Chris Donaldson, from The Royal Bar & Shaker next door, said: "It's tough, it's hard, and we wanted to spread the season.

"We will be looking to put more than one festival on.

"It's about trying to make the whole Prom busy for everybody."

Mr Donaldson said venues would also continue to participate in the annual Morecambe Music Festival, which runs again this year from July 10 to 13.

Pictured below, festival-goers enjoying Morecambe Music Festival in 2023.

"It's not about competition, Morecambe Music Festival is one weekend out of the year, and other than the vintage festival, is the best festival that comes to the town," he said.

"But we've got more than one weekend to try to fill. And it's tough on the Promenade. It's seriously tough.

"We're trying to bring business to the Promenade and we've got to do it ourselves."

Mr Wallace said: "We just want to celebrate the Promenade as a destination.

"We kind of feel like we get forgotten about during the long long winter that we endure and we want to kickstart the holiday season with a festival on the Promenade during the first weekend in April."

Pictured below, Hannah Thistlethwaite from The Soul Bowl, Summer Jenkins and Jamie Walker from The Royal, Mandy Butterworth from The Pier, Chris Donaldson and Ryan Wallace.

He said it was "very sad" that the vintage festival won't take place as usual later this year.

Organisers said the decision to put the event on hold followed "careful consideration of multiple factors, including funding challenges and continued rising costs".

"Vintage was our biggest weekend of the year, it brings a lot of people from out of town," he said.

"We're hoping that by doing a couple of Prom Fests a year, maybe at Christmas, we can make up for that loss. Let's hope Vintage is back last year."

Read more: Pubs join forces for new music festival in Morecambe - Beyond Radio

BREAKING NEWS: Vintage by the Sea festival not happening in 2025 - Beyond Radio