TWO popular festivals set to take place in Colchester next month have been postponed until 2021.

The Colchester Medieval Fayre and Colchester Food and Drink Festival traditionally take place in June each year.

But when the pandemic began earlier this year organisers decided to delay the events until September.

They have now decided to call off this year’s events and instead focuses on 2021.

Everyone who has a ticket will be able to get a refund or transfer it to next year.

Organiser Don Quinn said it had been a tough decision to make but safety had to be the top priority.

He said: “The reason for cancelling is Covid. While we were doing pretty well making it safe we felt it was damaging the quality of the event.

“For example, if we had a small group of singers each musician needed to be 3m apart and the audience 3m away. We would have needed a 46sqm area.

“We were not going to run an event which wouldn’t satisfy us.

“We have been running events for 20 years and didn’t want the public in any way feeling cheated.”

Gazette:

Attention will now turn to next year’s event.

The medieval fayre and food and drink festival will both take place in June.

A Roman-themed festival is planned for July 31 and August 1.