Lambeth Country Show, Brockwell Park, Saturday 21 & Sunday 22 July 2018

[Tricky Skills]

I love how the Sunday afternoon main stage has somehow managed to hold off the many wider social changes in the area. It is perhaps the last bastion where the old boys can meet up for a friendly smoke and a can of Red Stripe. There is such a chilled atmosphere down the BMX side of the park on Sundays. The old Bill understand that it is best to turn a blind eye and let the old crowd enjoy their afternoon in a way that is being forced out elsewhere.

I hope this doesn't change.

 

[jimbarkanoodle]

You'd hope there will be a decent line up to compensate for this fencing and no alcohol nonsense.

Last year on the same weekend there was a festival up in Walthamstow. It was free, but no booze allowed in etc. However, headlining were Toots and the Maytals.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

If they are not allowing alcohol through the gates, they better put more beer stalls on......cos they couldn't cope with the crowds when people were bringing their own....

 

[editor]

Mandatory bag searches, a BYO booze ban and - for the first time - a full perimeter fence really doesn't bode well.

Lambeth Country Show 2018: Alcohol ban and mandatory bag and body searches on entry

 

[sw16er]

It's a real shame they are enforcing a BYO Booze ban, it has pretty much priced me out of going there if I fancy a drink. The price of a beer whilst standard for a festival is too expensive for me to justify spending a large part of the day there.

 

[Smick]

It's a real shame they are enforcing a BYO Booze ban, it has pretty much priced me out of going there if I fancy a drink. The price of a beer whilst standard for a festival is too expensive for me to justify spending a large part of the day there.

The quality as well. It’s pub prices, long queues and served in disposable cups.

They’re going to create drinking areas outside of the perimeter and have people arriving tanked up, instead of doing it in a controlled environment.

 

[editor]

Interesting comment on the Buzz article:

This is not the only change. I am a local business who had a presence at the event for the past 5 years selling non-carbonated fruit drinks which proved so popular that scores of people come to find me each year.

This year I was told that anyone wanting to sell beverages had to bid to be at the event. As a one man business I bid the amount I paid last year i.e. £305 an amount that I thought reasonable given that in previous years Lambeth businesses taking part were given a discount of 40% to assist small business to promote themselves.

This discount was removed two years ago. I was very disappointed to have been refused a place this year due to my bid not being sufficient. It would seem that only those companies for whom being at the event is more a marketing tool than a need for profit can afford to make satisfactory bids.

The practise of accepting bids to take part will inevitably change the nature of the Show.

 

[paolo]

Oh no.

Decent festivals - like Boomtown or Glastonbury - curate their stall lets, so that there’s a good mix. With a good number of cheaper pitches aimed at more interesting stuff. They ask caterers to send a menu and prices, to make sure there’s good stuff at reasonable prices.

Simply going to ‘highest bidder’ is incredibly short sighted and risks ruining the whol mix.

 

[paolo]

If they are not allowing alcohol through the gates, they better put more beer stalls on......cos they couldn't cope with the crowds when people were bringing their own....

I’ll hazard a guess they won’t have anywhere near enough capacity and the queues will be awful.

 

[editor]

Oh no.

Decent festivals - like Boomtown or Glastonbury - curate their stall lets, so that there’s a good mix. With a good number of cheaper pitches aimed at more interesting stuff. They ask caterers to send a menu and prices, to make sure there’s good stuff at reasonable prices.

Simply going to ‘highest bidder’ is incredibly short sighted and risks ruining the whol mix.

The guy who used to run Kaff tried hard to get a stall a few years back but they made him bid and there was no way he could compete with the big boys, so he lost out. I know Chucklehead have been hanging on by a thread for the last couple of shows.

 

[brixtonblade]

This is bad news. It's the Lambeth country show and the organisers should be supporting local businesses ,especially ones which have a track record at the show

 

[shakespearegirl]

There should be a be discount for local businesses to have stalls at the show

 

[RoyReed]

There should be a be discount for local businesses to have stalls at the show

Not really how our wonderful Labour council works though, is it?

I’ll hazard a guess they won’t have anywhere near enough capacity and the queues will be awful.

The queues were awful before. Now they'll be catastrophic!

 

[editor]

Was there "significant violence" last year?

 

[editor]

Something is really not right here:

 

[snowy_again]

Are they confusing it with Splash?

In fact, there would have been a Lambeth events / MPS round up report on the festival. As a councillor he should be able to evidence that?

 

[editor]

Are they confusing it with Splash?

In fact, there would have been a Lambeth events / MPS round up report on the festival. As a councillor he should be able to evidence that?

We're quite specifically talking about the Country Show and Splash didn't take place last year anyway. This notion of 'serious violence' which was 'not reported publicly' is rather troubling because that would amount to a cover up.

 

[brixtonblade]

We're quite specifically talking about the Country Show and Splash didn't take place last year anyway. This notion of 'serious violence' which was 'not reported publicly' is rather troubling because that would amount to a cover up.

Or it's bollocks

 

[editor]

It keeps on getting dodgier





I don't recall seeing or hearing of any major, hour-long serious violence happening last year. Does anyone else?

 

[editor]

Oh dear...

 

[shakespearegirl]

I’m sure if there had been an hour long pitched battle that would have just the excuse the council needed to totally shut it down for good

 

[madolesance]

A couple of years ago, away from the Country Show in and around Herne Hill there was a incident that caused the police to get involved to bring control to the area, which was outside of the park area. A 'pitched battle' was definitely mentioned at the time on Urban.

 

[editor]

A couple of years ago, away from the Country Show in and around Herne Hill there was a incident that caused the police to get involved to bring control to the area, which was outside of the park area. A 'pitched battle' was definitely mentioned at the time on Urban.

I remember that but this councillor is insisting that it happened last year.

 

[paolo]

A couple of years ago, away from the Country Show in and around Herne Hill there was a incident that caused the police to get involved to bring control to the area, which was outside of the park area. A 'pitched battle' was definitely mentioned at the time on Urban.

If it was the one I remember reading about here, that must have been 10 years ago or more.

 

[bimble]

Was there both evenings last year and saw nothing remotely like this, did see a policeman dancing quite badly though. Does anyone know what sort of costly private security he's talking about? Was not aware of this.

 

[Reiabuzz]

Can you invite that councillor to this thread? Wtf is he on about?

 

[HelloNBD]

The banning of booze seems like a really bad choice as it will price so many people out of the event and also create problems outside the site.

If there is an issue with costs for extra security there should be a small charge £2-3 per adult, kids for free. Ask people to contribute more if they can - with some good comms around the need for funding for such community events, you'd be surprised how many people reach into their pockets.

An ideal situ would be those from the local boroughs on benefits / low income to be free and then charge everyone else on the door.

 

[editor]

The banning of booze seems like a really bad choice as it will price so many people out of the event and also create problems outside the site.

If there is an issue with costs for extra security there should be a small charge £2-3 per adult, kids for free. Ask people to contribute more if they can - with some good comms around the need for funding for such community events, you'd be surprised how many people reach into their pockets.

An ideal situ would be those from the local boroughs on benefits / low income to be free and then charge everyone else on the door.

I'm totally against any kind of charging and the notion of people having to prove they're on low income to get in abhors me. Some families with modest incomes might still struggle to afford a charge on the door (along with the more expensive drink).

It's a free community event, open to everyone, and that's how it should stay. It's what makes it so brilliant, and I'm happy for my council tax to be spent on this, rather than, for example, the cash-sucking vanity nu-Town Hall project.

 

[editor]

Can you invite that councillor to this thread? Wtf is he on about?

I just have.

 

[sw16er]

It keeps on getting dodgier





I don't recall seeing or hearing of any major, hour-long serious violence happening last year. Does anyone else?

Neither do I.

I was there last year on both days with my kids & mrs. I remember leaving at the end on Sunday, there were quite a few police around IIRC, I heard murmurings of the funfair being closed down because of some minor incident between rival youths...certainly not an hour long pitched battle!