‘Monstrous success’ for the first-ever Braunton Beats Festival
The Braunton Beats Festival in May was such a huge success, some venues even ran out of beer and the 2027 event dates have already been confirmed!
‘Rammed’, ‘fantastic’ and ‘awesome’ were just some of the words used to describe the huge success of the first-ever last weekend.
Organisers had wanted to create a non-profit community festival to do something for the village, the local music scenes and venues – and the result has absolutely blown everyone away.
In fact, the enthusiasm of the festival-goers, who turned out in their droves, saw village venues slightly caught out – most were at standing room only capacity for each event and a few even ran out of beer!
Such ‘monstrous success’, as one performer put it, means Braunton Beats is most definitely back for 2027 and revellers have been urged to put the weekend of May 14 to 16 in their diaries now!
The three-day festival saw some 12 venues around Braunton host more than 40 performances across a huge range of music genres and most of the shows were free.
Helen Cooper from Braunton Beats said people had travelled from as far away as the Midlands and Scotland to soak up the atmosphere.
She added: “The vibe was awesome and couldn’t have been any better - everywhere you went the venues were buzzing with excitement.
“It was absolutely amazing and we loved to see such positive energy across the whole festival. Whether it was Bad Flowers rocking out at The London Inn on Saturday night, or David Smale showcasing his fantastic performance on the Japanese Koto, the crowds turned up and really enjoyed it.
“Our thanks go to our sponsors, venues, acts and of course the fantastic audience, without whom we’d have nothing. Awesome stuff!”
Venue owners were also delighted by the results, during what can be a somewhat quiet spell before the bank holiday weekend.
Olly Seymour at SQ Bar and Restaurant said: “It was lovely to see such a mix of age groups at pre-pandemic levels - and excellent vibe and the village was the place to be!”
Richard Marc Beard at The London Inn added: “People really bought into it. We were overwhelmed by the audiences’ response.
“Even the sceptics were won over. No one had a bad word to say about it.”
Festival-goer Jane Southgate summed it up: “I didn't get my phone out once... I was having way too much fun!”