This year’s Oktoberfest Norwich had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, but organisers have been given the green light for the popular event next year.
Norwich City Council’s licensing committee unanimously agreed to grant a licence for the Bavarian-style event to take place in Norwich’s Chapelfield Gardens on October 2 next year, with a 1990s-themed night the evening before.
The council’s licensing committee granted the licence, subject to conditions, despite an objection from neighbours living close to the city park.
The event was held at Carrow Road in 2017 and Eaton Park in 2018, but took a break last year. It had been due to switch to Chapelfield Gardens on Saturday, October 3 this year, but the coronavirus pandemic put paid to those plans.
Neil Roberts, director of Oktoberfest Norwich organisers NRCO Ltd, told the licensing committee that Chapelfield Gardens was a better location for the event than Eaton Park.
He said: “We went out to Eaton Park which gave us a lot more space. But, commercially, it wasn’t as successful as we might have liked. I think if you go too far out of town it is an obstacle.
“We decided to give 2019 a rest, but we had talked with the council to come back this year, to Chapelfield Gardens, although coronavirus has put paid to that, so we’ve rolled it forward to next year.” Mr Roberts said the plan was for a 90s themed evening running from 6pm until 11pm on Friday, October 1 and then two Oktoberfest sessions, running from 12pm to 5pm and from 6pm to 11pm on Saturday, October 2.
He said he expected a maximum capacity of just under 1,500 people at each event.
Susie Wilson, who lives in nearby Chapel Field North, had lodged an objection to the award of the licence.
She had said: “Chapelfield Gardens were designed for the citizens of Norwich to be able to appreciate and walk peacefully in a planned arboretum. This peace is frequently abused.”
But the licence was unanimously granted, with the condition attached that, six weeks before the event, the organisers have to submit an event management plan to the city council and to Norfolk police.
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