The Tenby Summer Spectacular is over — with the volunteers behind it for almost 40 years saying they are ending the event for good after its premises licence was revoked.
The Tenby Round Table told supporters it was “sorry to announce” that the licence to host the Spectaculars in Tenby Harbour had been revoked for all future events, following a hearing before a Pembrokeshire County Council licensing sub-committee on July 9.
“While we do not agree with the decision, we respect the Sub-Committee’s role and its overriding concern for the safety of those attending the events,” the group said.
But as volunteers who had “already devoted hundreds of hours to fighting for these events this year alone”, the group said it now felt it must “draw a line under the Summer Spectaculars in Tenby Harbour”.
One comment from the hearing, the group said, had stayed with them — a sub-committee member telling the volunteers: “I think you’re just too good at the job.”
“We simply wish we had been given the support to continue doing it,” the Round Table said.
Why the licence was revoked
The sub-committee concluded the licensing objectives were not being adequately met — leaving what it called significant concerns regarding crowd safety, emergency access and the protection of children from harm, the statutory tests every premises licence in Wales and England is judged against.
Cllr Aaron Carey, the council’s cabinet member with responsibility for the licensing service, said neither he nor the council took “any satisfaction whatsoever” from a decision he knew would disappoint the event’s organisers, volunteers and charities.
The committee heard evidence from Dyfed-Powys Police, the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service, council officers and the organisers — and Cllr Carey said the police’s concerns were “extremely powerful”.
The ambulance service raised significant concerns about emergency medical access to and within the event, he said, while the fire service detailed concerns about crowd numbers, uncontrolled attendance and emergency access.
“There were significant concerns from agencies that, due to the size and popularity of the event, it had outgrown its current setting,” Cllr Carey said. “Public safety has to be paramount, particularly where an event involves large crowds in a working harbour environment.”
A Dyfed-Powys Police spokesperson said the force recognised “the great fundraising work done by the Tenby Round Table”, but had raised concerns around public safety, the protection of children from harm and the prevention of crime and disorder after reviewing the event in its current format.
The volunteers’ case
The Round Table insists public safety “is, and always has been, paramount to us” — and says it was the group itself that first raised the concerns with the council and police after the 2025 events.
Its position throughout has been that safe control of access to the harbour was fundamental — and that this control, combined with road closures and other measures already in place, would have allowed the events to continue safely.
The group said it had repeatedly pointed the council’s public realm department to a legal framework it believes would enable that control — and been repeatedly told it was not possible, “despite the same legislation being used in Tenby for other large events specifically to control crowd movement on public footpaths”.
When the volunteers — who had taken independent legal advice — raised the point again before the sub-committee, the group said the hearing was suspended so the council could review its position on a matter the organisers had been told was already settled.
The Round Table said it had been prepared to accept amendments to its licence, and was happy to review crowd numbers, security, medical provision and road closures: “All we needed in return was the ability to control the number of people accessing the harbour and beach.”
A contested future
The council said after the decision that it and its partner agencies stood ready to support discussions aimed at bringing “this much-valued event back to Tenby” in a way that satisfies safety and licensing requirements.
The Round Table disputed that picture — saying the council’s clear view at the hearing itself was that any future event would not be taking place in Tenby Harbour, and that while the offer to work constructively was welcome, “we wish [it] had been apparent throughout this process”.
The dispute burst into the open in June, when the group accused the council of leaving it waiting months for an answer on crowd control powers — before cancelling this summer’s events with a pledge to return. The licence had been called in for review for the first time in 14 years.
“This has never been about raising more money or shifting liability,” the group said. “It has always been about our ability to host these fundraising events safely for our community and its visitors.”
Thanking supporters for helping raise hundreds of thousands of pounds for local charities and good causes over the decades, the volunteers signed off: “We hope you cherish the memories as much as we have loved creating them.”
The July 9 hearing can be viewed on the council’s webcast portal.
