ORGANISATIONS across Knutsford have criticised the directors of this year’s Promenades claiming that poor marketing was to blame for a low turnout.

The event, which received £4,400 of funding from the town council, and £25,000 from Cheshire East Council, was slated at Knutsford Town Council’s event committee meeting on Monday.

Peter Murray, who owns Pulse of Perfurmery on Princess Street, attended the meeting to speak about the festival’s disappointing results for nearby businesses.

He addressed the councillors to relay the concerns of organisations in the town, and to address the problem before preparations begin for next year’s event.

"I think the actual Proms themselves are fantastic," he said.

"The one thing that the feedback that I have had has said is that there was anticipation of an event that had significant funding and therefore an anticipation of an audience that they could communicate with.

“It was a ghost town for many hours until 3pm when the parade took place. Our clients that live in and around the town were asking what was going on.”

But Peter was keen to tell the councillors that he wants the event to continue in the future, and asked the committee to consider ways that the proms can be improved.

“We want the proms to continue so we need to work together," he added.

“My concern was initially that they were closing the road on a Saturday. The feedback I am getting is - is there no way we can look at doing it on a Sunday?

“It is not all about business. If so many hours have been put into creating such a magic display, sorry but there needs to be thousands of people coming in to Knutsford.

“The marketing did not work. It did not seem to attract people, not only visitors from the outside.

“There were seven people watching a performance. For a project that had such investment, it did not deliver.”

Councillors then spoke about the publicly funded event and expressed their concerns about the money spent on the day.

When the council were told how much was invested in the event from public funds, Cllr Simon Hutchence said: “That’s a hell of a lot of money for what was disappointing.

“I think beggar’s belief that one of our main streets is closed off for that day, the most important trading day for retailers.”

But the news was not all negative, with many of the councillors commending the performances and especially the effort put in by all the organisers.

Cllr Jonathan Farber said: “I think the performances were incredible. The problem was it is such powerful material that it was lost.

“There weren’t enough people in the square. We have got professional actors, for them not to be valued was a bit of a tragedy.

“It is a considerable amount of public money.

"We have got to be championing something for Knutsford.”

But the organisers have expressed their disappointment at the council’s approach to the meeting, claiming that they were not invited to discuss these concerns.

Julie Tempest, co-organiser of the Knutsford Promenades, said: “"It was a pity that the organisers weren't invited to the meeting - the Knutsford Promenades wasn't on the published agenda so I was very surprised to hear a retailer speak.

"I was only there by chance as a Knutsford resident and was astonished by what was said.

“The Promenades organisers carried out extensive pre-event consultations and post-event evaluations which we would have liked the committee to hear before any discussions took place.”

What did you think about the Proms this year? Email yourviews@nqnw.co.uk