Sea Bangor festival cancellation plan to get rethink after council plea

Fans of one of the biggest festivals in the North Down area are raising their hopes again after the local council decided to rethink a decision to cancel the event next year.

The hugely popular annual Sea Bangor Festival, which has been bringing in tens of thousands of visitors each year for over a decade, had been suspended next year at a council committee, due to the forthcoming development works for Queen’s Parade, staffing resources and the programming of other tourism events.

At the Ards and North Down Borough Council “Place and Prosperity” Committee earlier this month, councillors agreed that Sea Bangor would not take place in 2025 due to anticipated site limitations in Bangor.

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Councillors also agreed an additional series of “Family/Music in the Park” type events would be held each Saturday in Bangor during June 2025 with a tourism budget of £10,000, subject to the rates setting process. Officials were also instructed to consider an additional Autumn event for Bangor “with the aim of driving footfall and customer spend”.

A statement from the council after this decision read: “The forthcoming development works for Queen’s Parade by developer Bangor Marine would result in site limitations at Bangor Waterfront with resulting impacts on Council direct delivered events, including Sea Bangor. Additionally, due to available staffing resources and other tourism events programmed for June 2025 it was considered that Sea Bangor needed to be suspended for one year.

“When the £10 million Marine Gardens/McKee clock arena element of the Queen’s Parade development is completed, it is the council’s aspiration that this event space will be recognised by events organisers as a unique venue for hosting a range of events which will bring increased social, economic and cultural returns for the Borough.”

The decision was a controversial one, with many locals believing Holborn Square would have been an excellent temporary site for the festival next year, offering a prime location near Bangor’s retail centre.

At the monthly Ards and North Down full council meeting held this week at Bangor Castle, DUP Councillor Carl McClean made a successful amendment to the committee decision, with a proposal that officers come back with a report detailing “how the Sea Bangor festival can, despite the site limitations, be included at a time between May and August in the 2025 events programme”.

The report will also examine alternatives from the previous decision, such as additional family or music in Ward Park, and an extra Autumn event for Bangor.

Councillor McClean said: “I think we can get something that will go ahead. It won’t be the same format, or the same size and scale of previous years, but I think it is worth doing. I know the Chamber (of Commerce) is keen, and want it retained for next year.

“It is really important for footfall, particularly for what is going to be a time of disruption in the borough. I thank the officers for working with us to in principle make this work.”

Alliance Councillor Chris McCracken said: “I welcome this amendment as another effort to look at all the options to ensure Bangor gets as much support as it can during a difficult time of disruption.

“Sea Bangor is a much loved festival, and if it can be brought back, then we would certainly support that. There are of course some constraints that we do as a council need to work through, and we must be mindful whatever we do now, it won't be the Sea Bangor envisaged in 2023, partly because some of the key components of that are lost, with Armed Forces Day moving to Newtownards, and because of the site constraints.”

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