Rejected Plan for music event at skate park refused

PLAN to hold a mini punk music festival at a skatepark underneath the busiest stretch of road in Bristol has been rejected by the council’s licensing committee, after the police objected saying they feared it could get out of hand.

- Tristan CORK

An application to hold the music event on the first Saturday in September had been submitted, but police said whoever applied had not spoken to them about it, and they didn’t turn up to the licensing committee hearing held at City Hall.

The application was submitted at the beginning of August, and requested an events licence for the mini-festival. The applicant told the council they wanted to turn an area around the half-pipe skate ramp at the Curbside skatepark underneath the A3029 Brunel Way flyover into a mini festival.

The event licence would have been for an event for 150 people, with live rock music, starting at noon on Saturday, September 6 and going on until 10pm. Councillors on the licensing committee, held at City Hall said they were reluctantly turning the application down, but said they wanted to encourage whoever the applicant was to apply again, this time with more information.

The identity of the applicant was withheld from the publicly available documents released by Bristol City Council at the hearing, but the Curbside skatepark has a thriving community of skaters and BMX riders using the pump track next to it. Live music is regularly a feature of weekends down in that area, which is an extension of Greville Smyth Park in Ashton Gate.