A POPULAR beer festival is to be held in Castle Park... despite a widespread backlash from residents last year.

Organisers of Oktoberfest were keen to make the event an annual fixture, but the actions of some meant Colchester Council appeared to rule out hosting such an event again in the beauty spot.

Residents reported “very loud music” on both nights with “an extremely heavy bass” while critics of the event said stewards did not supervise the crowds at closing time.

However, the promoters revealed yesterday that the festival will once again be held at Lower Castle Park, on Friday and Saturday, October 26 and 27.

Darius Laws (Con), ward councillor Castle ward, said lessons needed to be learnt from last time.

He said: “Inevitably a beer festival will result in merriment and as such considerable consideration is needed for nearby residents.

“For me, there probably needs to be more than one exit point to help disperse people and extra staff to manage this.”

Critics had also alleged some partygoers were “drunk and marauding through the streets” while revellers were spotted climbing on walls, walking over cars and urinating in public.

But organisers have been consistently keen to hold the festival in the town again.

The event is advertised as being a “huge weekend of traditional Bavarian entertainment, food and drink”.

In a Facebook post Oktoberfest Essex said: “Taking place inside one of Europe’s largest touring bier tents for a Bavarian style festival, including a showcase some of the best and authentic oompah bands from around the world across all three sessions.

“Plus a large selection of traditional German foods and those all important steins.”

We contacted Colchester Council for a comment but the authority said it planned to issue a statement later this week. As a result, it is not known whether any changes are planned to take into account residents’ concerns.

Go to www.oktoberfestcolchester.co.uk for more.