Bristol Harbour Festival 'taking break' for second year

Bristol's Harbour Festival has been cancelled for a second year in a row.

The annual event was due to mark its 50th anniversary this summer, but organisers have announced it will be "taking a break" again this year.

Bristol City Council said restrictions had left organisers "too little time to deliver a safe 2021 festival".

A spokesperson for the festival said: "We're now focused on creating an incredible 50th anniversary event in 2022."

The Bristol Harbour Festival attracts about 250,000 visitors each year.

A festival spokesman said cancelling the event again had been a "difficult decision".

"Timelines leading up to the event simply don't allow enough time to plan the event the city deserves," he said.

A city council spokesman said the government's "roadmap puts 21 June as the earliest" that large gatherings will be allowed which leaves "too little time" for the flagship event.

"The Harbour Festival requires significant time to fully curate and programme more than 300 artists and performers, along with 200 visiting vessels as well as preparing the large three-square mile event site," he said.

"The energy and focus is now shifting to using the additional planning time to prepare for next year's once-in-a-lifetime event."

Jon Finch, head of culture at the city council, said the "roadmap out of lockdown potentially means a very uncertain time" for the event sector.

"We are going to do all we can to make sure that the Harbour Festival will return next year," he said.

The festival is now due to take place in July 2022.