Proms spectacular has town’s tills ringing loud

Thousands of people went through the gates of the outdoor festival on Lytham Green over the weekend.

And organisers and Lytham businesses have said the third annual Proms was bigger and better than ever.

Festival director Peter Taylor said: “What a fantastic weekend. Each year Lytham Proms gets even bigger and better and this year was the best ever.”

The Queen’s Hotel said it’s takings more than doubled compared to an average weekend thanks to the festival.

Owner Clare Holt said: “It was all very successful, there was no trouble, everyone was very happy.

“Takings were probably double what we’d normally take in a week, over the weekend. It’s really good for trade and really good for Lytham.”

Bar and restaurants managers said they saw a steady stream of business throughout the weekend.

Steve Norris, manager at The Taps, said: “It was interesting how many different types of people we had, people from all over and all ages.

“Business was booming.”

Joe Ormond, bar manager at Capri, said: “It’s very good for the town, takings were up on the usual weekend.

“We had a lot more non-regular people in.”

Organisers are now working on next year’s show.

Mr Taylor added: “While the clean-up operation continues, we are already starting to plan something really special for the next event.”

Now businesses are already looking forward to the 2014 Proms.

Craig Daniels, general manager of The County Hotel, said: “We’ve already taken bookings for next year. It’s a great event for the whole town, it brings lots of money in and creates a great atmosphere.”

Organisers apologise after toilet shortages

Organisers of Lytham Proms have apologised after revellers reported having to queue in their hundreds to use toilets on the Friday night.

A message was posted on the Proms Facebook page on Friday night apologising for the queues, putting them down to the good weather.

It read: “Really sorry about the queues for the ladies toilets. We have had a lot more turn up due to the weather.”

Festival goer Lisa Ford said: “We missed half of Marc Almond because of queuing for the toilets, everyone was going mad. There weren’t enough signs high up stating where bar and toilets were situated.”

Helen Pearson posted on the Facebook page: “Thought you’d listened to what we’d said from last year, yes you had the bar sorted, that was great, but more drinks makes more trips to the toilet and you failed big style on that front.”

Festival organisers have vowed to listen to concerns.Festival director Peter Taylor said: “The better-than-forecast weather meant we had a large number of people who decided quite late to come to the Friday night show.

“Unfortunately, while we had provided a large volume of toilets on site this unexpected influx meant there were queues for the ladies toilets.

“Last year we had comments regarding queues at the bars, which we resolved. We will similarly review matters regarding the ladies’ toilets for future events.”

Follow us on twitter @The_Gazette and like our page on facebook to keep up with all the latest news.