22/06/2026
Bureaucracy again. This event has run safely for a good 40-50 years. It looks like somebody at PCC has an agenda against this event for some reason, and probably against Tenby too!! Absolutely gutted with all the planning that's already gone into this.
Fingers crossed sanity will prevail and this unnecessary anti Tenby agenda will achieve a positive outcome with more effective, timely and productive communication from PCC with Tenby Round Table
An important update regarding the Tenby Summer Spectacular 2026
It is with enormous sadness that are announcing that the Tenby Summer Spectacular events, scheduled for 16 and 30 August 2026, are cancelled until further notice.
These events have been a highlight of Tenby's summer for decades. They bring our community together, they welcome visitors to one of Wales's most beautiful towns, and they raise vital funds for local charities and causes that depend on that support. Cancelling them is not a decision we have taken lightly. It is a decision that has been forced upon us.
To run these events safely and lawfully, we need to be able to manage the number of people entering the event area at any one time.
To do that, we need Pembrokeshire County Council's (PCC) Public Realm department to use its statutory powers to temporarily restrict pedestrian access through the event area when capacity is reached. This is a standard, well-established tool used by councils across the country for exactly this kind of public event.
We first raised this with PCC in September 2025. We raised it again, formally and in writing, in May 2026. We have chased it repeatedly. We have attended every meeting asked of us, commissioned professional health and safety consultants, and worked to produce Event Management Plans.
We have done everything a responsible event organiser can do.
PCC's Public Realm department has had nine months to answer one question on safe and controlled access to the harbour. It has not done so.
The written responses we have finally received, after significant pressure, and only in the last two weeks, contain what we believe to factual inaccuracies and misleading statements about the legislation that governs this power. Despite the length of time this issue has been discussed for, PCC has itself acknowledged that the legal advice it is relying on is provisional and still under internal review. Given the lack of clarity and the time needed to arrange these events, we cannot commit to running events for thousands of people based on a legal position that PCC's own officers have admitted is still not settled.
The charities that benefit from these events, the businesses that see a boost on those August nights, and the thousands of people who make Tenby their destination for the Spectacular all deserve better than this. So do our volunteers, who have given hundreds of hours this year alone trying to make these events happen safely.
Since they started, hundreds of thousands of pounds have gone directly from these events to local charities, sports teams, community groups and worthy individuals in our community. This event is run entirely by volunteers with every penny raised actively doing good for Tenby and the surrounding area. The cancellation of these events will come as a devastating blow to those who our charity funds help.
This cancellation is provisional. We have given PCC a final deadline of 25 June 2026 to provide a clear, accurate, and legally grounded answer. If they do, we will do everything in our power to reinstate the events.
Albeit we are still working with Dyfed Powys Police and other relevant authorities ahead of a PCC licencing committee meeting in July, which will decide whether our licence to host the events will be renewed, amended or withdrawn with the majority of the issues they are considering all going back to the control of access into the harbour.
We are deeply sorry to have got to this stage. We hope to have better news in the coming weeks.
