Tom Kerridge Bail Outs Saves Chiswick Pub in the Park

Collapse of event organiser led to the cancellation of most other festivals

This year's Pub in the Park in Chiswick House Gardens

November 26, 2023

A Pub in the Park event will take place in Chiswick House Gardens next year despite the collapse of the company that organises the festivals.

Brand Events Limited went into administration earlier this year with the administrator citing large losses incurred during the pandemic as the reason. It had been formed in 2017 as a joint venture between Brand Events Holdings Ltd and newspaper publisher Reach plc and organised the open air events which included stalls offering food from top chefs as well as live music from well known artists.

The Chiswick event held in September this year, at which acts such as Ronan Keating, Judge Jules, The Hoosiers and McFly appeared, occurred after the company had gone into liquidation.

This was made possible by the formation of a company called Pub in the Park Festivals Ltd, in which Tom Kerridge was a minority shareholder as well as the former CEO of Brand Events. Mr Kerridge was the first ever chef to get two Michelin stars for restaurant based in a pub, the Hand & Flowers in Marlow. He more recently set up The Coach, also in Marlow, which has also won a Michelin star.

Tom Kerridge

The new company invested £175,000 in the operation and took on the bank debts of Brand Events. This enabled the completion of the 2023 programme of ten festivals by providing the funds to pay suppliers with six of the festivals happening after Brand Events went under. The collapse of Brand Events did leave a number of creditors with large losses including two local authorities.

There were originally fears that this would be the end of Pub in the Park, but it has now been announced that a less ambitious schedule will be held in 2024 with just four venues including Tom Kerridge’s home town of Marlow, Reigate and St. Albans as well as Chiswick.

Although prominent in the promotion of the festivals since their inception, Tom Kerridge was not a shareholder in Brand Events or involved in the day-to-day running of the festivals. He did however receive 20% of the profits from the festivals and owned a stake in the intellectual property of the business.

A spokesperson for Pub in the Park Festivals Limited said that he got together with other business partners to ensure that the 2023 programme could go ahead and ensure the event’s survival.

The event’s website states, "Next year we plan to replace our regional touring format with four newly designed, bigger and better festivals. Each event will have its own unique characteristics that we are really excited about.

"We are sad not to be returning to towns where we've had so much fun in the past, but in the current climate our Pub in the Park smaller shows are unfortunately unviable."

The Chiswick festival in 2024 takes place from 28-30 June with tickets not yet on sale but new packagesare to be offered including ones which incorporate both food and entry. This year the price of a general afternoon admission ticket for an adult was £47.20.