Further tourism blow as Harewood Game Fair is cancelled (From Wharfedale Observer)

Further tourism blow as Harewood Game Fair is cancelled

9:05am Wednesday 25th July 2007 in Local news By Paul Langan

HARD hit tourism businesses have been dealt a further kick in the teeth by the weather this summer with the cancellation of the Harewood House Game Fair.

The Country Landowners' Association (CLA) fair had been due to take place this coming weekend but last Sunday organisers had to admit that the event had succumbed to the bad weather.

Busineses in the Wharfedale area are among those who will be hit by the projected £50 million loss of income which will result from the cancellation.

Tim Edwards, who runs Westwood Lodge self-catering accommodation on Westwood Drive, Ilkley, is a member of the Ilkley and Wharfedale Tourism Partnership.

He said that accommodation businesses, particularly guest houses and hotels who don't take the money until the end of a guest's stay, would be hit hard.

He said it was a further blow on top of the downturn in bookings because of the flooding in Yorkshire earlier this month.

Mr Edwards said: "Hotels and bed and breakfasts will undoubtedly suffer and bookings are down already because of the perception that Yorkshire is closed to businesses at the moment. The number of bookings are well down."

Lisa Preston, who runs the Pickersgill Manor Farm, bed and breakfast accommodation at Silsden Moor said: "This is a devastating thing to happen for many local businesses. I have had my bookings for this coming week and weekend since last November.

"I am a member of the Ilkley and Wharfedale Partnership, we meet every couple of months in a bid to keep tourists coming to Ilkley and the surrounding area and to make sure we provide the best facilities possible.

The Game Fair has been a topic on our agenda for several months and the decision to cancel will affect every accommodation provider in the area."

It is the first time in its 49 year history that the Game Fair has had to be cancelled.

A spokesman said: "Worse than predicted weather which has hit Harewood Estate over the last 48 hours, and has now defeated all the efforts the organisers have made in order to open the show this coming Friday.

"Despite weeks of rain the site was drying out well before the deluge of rain on Friday afternoon followed by lighter but continuous rain throughout the weekend. The site is now saturated with water lying in all areas of the show ground.

"The organisers are only too aware that aside from the financial loss they are going to have to bear, the overall economic impact of the cancellation will be in the region of £50million.

The Chairman of The CLA Game Fair Board, Vincent Hedley Lewis, said: "Ourselves aside, our hearts go out to all the people who's livelihood is going to be affected by our not being able to go ahead.

We have truly done all we could to keep the show going for everyone's sake. To proceed this week with the wet conditions we are experiencing would be a health and safety risk as well as an even greater financial loss to the hundreds of businesses and individuals who support us each year. We were not defeated by foot and mouth in 2001 but the rain has defeated us this summer."

? The bad weather has also forced the rearrangement of Weeton Show which was due to take place this weekend. The show has been postponed until Sunday, September 2.

Show secretary Candy Waller said all the same classes would take place but just on a later date. Show chairman David Beresford said that the committee was determined that the event would take place but at the present moment the show field was waterlogged.

He said that the later date would give a chance for the weather to improve.