Chiswick Oktoberfest Beer Festival Cancelled

Local residents are pleased that next month's beer festival on Acton Green is called off

The Oktoberfest which was due to take place on Acton Green Common on the August Bank Holiday weekend has been cancelled.

We are unaware at this point of the reasons behind the cancellation and we have so far been unable to contact Carsten Raun, the Oktoberfest organiser, who is currently in Germany. A member of staff in their office in Germany confirmed the Bierfest in Chiswick had been called off but was unable to say why. The organisers refer to it as the German Bierfest Ealing.

The festival had been given the go-ahead by Ealing Council for its second year and was due to have a more 'family friendly' format this year.

The Bedford Park Society (BPS) said: “We are pleased that residents who live close to Acton Green will not be disturbed by a return of the beer festival this year.

"Our members’ survey last year revealed that in general residents questioned the suitability of holding any additional events in the heart of a residential community with only a third of respondents agreeing it was appropriate to hold another beer festival or similar event in future. While a number of people welcomed the idea of public events being held occasionally to encourage people to meet, there was a strong preference for these events to be community-based rather than purely commercial.”

The BPS had been due to meet the organiser of the Bierfest next week Tuesday (August 1st) for a site walkabout and to hold a Q & A session. The BPS received a message from the Events team at Ealing Council saying : "The German Bierfest Ealing in Acton Green Common for the 24 August has been cancelled."

The Council had given conditional permission for the Bierfest to take place, provided the organisers met all the requirements stipulated by the Council including monitoring of noise levels, numbers and arrangements for entering and existing the event.

The event had been rebranded as The German Bierfest Ealing, though it was being run by the London Oktoberfest, who ran last year's event. They had intended to have a slightly different format, with a smaller tent, with maximum capacity of 300 people.

Attendance was to be limited to 1,500 people at any one time and security guards were to control access and conduct bag searches. It had been agreed there would be no live music and music played over loudspeakers would be at 'background' level.

The BPS had asked the Council for details of the conditions imposed for granting permission for the event including how compliance will be checked; what steps would be taken if non-compliance occurred during the event; how many people attended last year and whether the 1,500 maximum attendance was reached at any point.

The BPS were also seeking confirmation that the closing times of 11pm each evening except Sunday (7.30pm) would be adhered to as they did not correspond with those shown on the website.

Organiser Mr. Carsten Raun had said last year he hoped it would become an annual event.

A similar event at Canary Wharf is still listed on the Oktoberfest website as going ahead in September and October.

July 29, 2017