BUSINESSES on Weymouth harbour have hit out at news this year's Dorset Seafood Festival will be moving location - as they predicted a controversial new £10 entry fee will result in the event being a 'flop'.

The festival usually takes place on the harbourside in July and is free to attend, making it one of the most celebrated weekends in Weymouth’s event calendar which each year attracts around 60,000 visitors.

But concerns have been raised after it emerged this year's event would move to the peninsula behind Weymouth Pavilion in September, with limited visitor numbers, strict crowd control and a ticket-only system.

Business bosses said the new location would have a huge impact on one of their biggest annual weekends of trading, and said they didn't believe people would fork out for tickets for an event that has historically been free.

The owner of Custom House Cafe on Custom House Quay, Keith Rupps, said: “It is our busiest day of the year. To take it off us is disgusting.

“I think it’s terrible because it is not going to be very popular. You can’t charge for an event that used to be free.

Mr Rupps predicted that the event would be a "flop".

Owner of Nanna Moon's Cafe on Trinity Road, Michelle Ludlow, said: “It did bring in an awful lot of business. Obviously, it would be good to see the festival where it should be.

“It is behind the Pavilion and tickets will be £10. By the time they have walked down there they will just walk down the sea front.

“If they do buy the £10 ticket it is only for four hours. We are in a pandemic. Most people are on furlough, even in September, they aren’t going to use their money for that sort of money.

“We were banking on these events in July to boost our takings this year.”

The event had to be cancelled last year due to the Covid pandemic, but organisers announced it will be back in Weymouth on September 11 and 12.

The much-loved festival, sponsored by Nyetimber English Sparkling Wine, will be set up in a new location on Weymouth peninsula, behind the Pavilion Theatre, to ensure visitor numbers can be responsibly controlled.

A new ticket-only system will be introduced for this year's event, with adult tickets starting at £10.

Organisers said a ticketing system was the only way they could ensure visitor numbers could be controlled to ensure the safety of festival-goers. They said introducing a fee for the first time would offset some of the increased costs associated with crowd control whilst making up for some of the lost revenue from the postponement of the 2020 event.

They have been working with Dorset Council and Weymouth Town Council to secure the new festival site and said they were forced to move the date to September despite the Government's roadmap out of lockdown announcement as there remained too much uncertainty for the usual July dates to be viable.