01/10/2026
**A difficult announcement from Weston Village Clubhouse**
It is with great sadness that we have to share that, after many years of supporting the Oswestry Balloon Carnival, we will no longer be working with the event.
For many years, we have been proud to play our part in the carnival. We have welcomed balloon pilots into our clubhouse, hosted them, supported the event and helped with the pilot checking process. It has always been something we have been genuinely proud to be involved with as a local business.
Last year, we were the only bar at the carnival and our understanding was that this arrangement would continue, with the aim of keeping drinks reasonably priced for those attending.
When we arrived to set up on the day we were informed that another bar from Cheshire would also be attending the 2026 event,
we had genuine concerns about whether trading at the carnival would be commercially viable for our small local business. After carefully considering the situation, we made the difficult decision to withdraw.
The amount of work involved with making the bar a success and keeping the prices down and the staff working around the clock obviously went unnoticed.
We called the organisers who were very unhelpful and said we would sort it out the next week,
That evening the cheshire bar over took our pitch with no phone call to try and sort the situation out from the committee after all these years was very sad.
We paid £3,500 to be involved, and despite explaining our circumstances and asking for the situation to be reconsidered, we have now been told that the money will not be refunded,
We even asked for a partial refund again the committee said no.
we feel deeply saddened and hurt by the way this situation has been handled.
What is particularly difficult for us is that, after all the years of working together and never having one issue, we feel there was no meaningful attempt to sit down with us, understand our concerns or find a reasonable solution.
We are a small local hospitality business, and £3,500 is a very significant amount of money to us.
But for us, this is about more than the money.
It is about the principle of supporting local businesses.
We have always believed that local events should, wherever possible, support the local businesses and communities that have supported them over the years. Sadly, following our experience, we no longer feel that the Oswestry Balloon Carnival reflects that same level of support for local businesses that we once felt it did.
After many years of being involved, this is incredibly disappointing and genuinely hurtful.
Sadly, we now feel that our relationship with the carnival has come to an end.
We are incredibly grateful to all the balloon pilots, visitors, customers, volunteers and supporters who have visited Weston Village Clubhouse over the years. ❤️
We never wanted to have to write this, but we feel our customers deserve to understand why Weston Village Clubhouse will no longer be involved with the Oswestry Balloon Carnival.
Thank you to everyone who continues to support our small local business. Your support means more to us than you know. ❤️
Ps at least we gave £3500 to charity 🤣😅
