'Residents will have to hold their nose': Outrage over plans for 'Oktoberfest' drinking festival in upmarket Chiswick

Oktoberfest: Previous events in London have attracted 25,000 people
Carsten Raun
Mark Chandler5 January 2016

Residents of one of London’s most prestigious postcodes have hit out at plans for a five-day ‘Oktoberfest’ party to be held there.

German entrepreneur Carsten Raun is in talks with Ealing Council to host a festival for thousands of drinkers in leafy Chiswick this summer.

Alongside the boozing, proposals include live oompah music and dancing, plus a shop where revellers can hire their own lederhosen.

But residents groups say the event is an “imposition” and that it is too large for the proposed site on Acton Green near Turnham Green station.

Nigel Walley from the Bedford Park Residents' Association said the green space was normally used for a book festival rather than hosting 1,500 thirsty beer drinkers a day.

Residents in Chiswick are concerned about a beer festival on their doorsteps
Carsten Raun

He said: “To be fairly honest we don’t know what to expect.

“This is a new thing that’s come out of the blue. I think it’s out of place for a number of reasons. It’s a drinking festival in the middle of a reasonably genteel suburb.”

He went on: “I don’t know if it’s intended as an event for the German community in west London.

“We’d much rather this wasn’t happening because it’s not come out of or from the community here. It’s very much an imposed event from outside.”

Mr Walley also questioned why, when it was billed as a small festival, the plans showed it required a string of temporary toilets and a phalanx of security guards to stop people making a nuisance of themselves.

He said: “It’s very hard at the moment to find someone who wants to speak in favour of it. It’s the kind of thing residents will have to hold their nose about because I don’t think we have the option to agree or disagree.”

The event is one of four r Raun wants to hold in the capital across seven weeks this summer, with a fortnight-long festival also planned for Millwall Park and two more in unconfirmed central London locations.

And the German, whose Oktoberfest events last year attracted crowds totalling 25,000 people, insisted that Chiswick residents had nothing to fear from the plan.

He said: “We are trying to make it a very cooperative approach with the residents, to listen to them and try to work any concerns out.

“The plan for Chiswick is five days and that’s also one of our ideas. It is shorter and will have less impact for the residents. The whole thing’s a small event, only planned for 1,500 people.

“We’ve tried to fit it into the area. We think, with the public transport link that we have at Turnham Green, that’s a perfect location for people to come and go.”

He added: “We want to show the Londoners and local people in west London what the best stuff about German culture is.

“We’re really open if people would like to give ideas or have comments to tell us.”

The festival would run from a Wednesday to Sunday at a date to be agreed in August or September, with last orders at 10.30pm each night.

A spokesman for Ealing Council said: “Ealing Council is consulting with residents’ associations and other interested parties following an application to hold an Oktoberfest event on Acton Green in August.

“Any concerns raised during the consultation will be taken into account before a decision on whether permission will be granted is made.”

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