Hastings Mid Summer Fish Festival, scheduled to take place in June has been cancelled, but it is hoped that September’s Sea Food and Wine Festival will be able to go ahead.

Councillor Colin Fitzgerald, the council’s deputy leader, explained: “We are very disappointed that we’ve had to cancel our Mid Summer Fish Festival but it was simply too risky to continue. It was planned for the weekend of June 26th and 27th, just days after the earliest possible date that lockdown restrictions could be lifted.

“The government has made it clear that lockdown will only be eased if the data shows that it can be and a delay of just one week at any step would have meant us having to cancel, possibly at less than a week’s notice. That wouldn’t be fair on our visitors and certainly not on our stallholders, who would already have bought stock in and started preparing for the event. The last thing our beleaguered traders want is more uncertainty.

“However, we are optimistic that our very popular Sea Food and Wine Festival will be able to take place, over the weekend of September 18th and 19th. This is one of our most popular events, and planning for that is already well underway. That really will be something to look forward to.”