Alessandro worries that he won’t be able to see the 38,000 people that are anticipated to attend the festival.
When BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend comes to Luton in May, the proprietor of a Luton cafe claims he won’t be able to trade because he is afraid of missing out on the massive number of guests in Stockwood Park.
Alessandro Dinghile, owner of Elevenses at Stockwood Park Golf Centre, claims he was only informed by Luton Borough Council during a drop-in session that his company would not be permitted to open.
According to Alessandro, “We were thrilled to learn that Radio 1’s Big Weekend would take place there when it was revealed. Regretfully, they had everything reserved for them when we arrived at the meeting.
We have 120 parking places that the council has set aside for other people to use. Our street leads directly up to the golf course from London Road. That is completely walled off; only specific individuals will be able to enter through a red gate, so we won’t even be able to access our building.
A representative for the Luton Borough Council stated: “We are fully aware that there will be some disruption, which we are working hard to minimise and mitigate where we can. Radio 1’s Big Weekend is an exciting showcase prospect for Luton and will provide a huge financial boost to the economy and local businesses.
We scheduled two drop-in sessions for locals and businesses as soon as the embargo was removed in order to better understand the event’s effects and collaborate to limit any disruptions while maximising opportunities for neighbourhood companies.
This includes Alessandro, who attended the event; we are still in contact with him and the other affected firms.
His business has already been hurt by the weekend because he had to cancel reservations for May 24 and 26.
It’s the final weekend of the May bank holiday, Alessandro clarified. It goes without saying that many of the events we had scheduled have since been cancelled. That implies that we would lose between £25,000 and £30,000 over the course of a weekend like that, not even accounting for what would be profitable given the number of people visiting the park.
