Royal County of Berkshire Show cancelled for "foreseeable future"
Organisers say pandemic will take years to recover from
The Royal County of Berkshire Show will not return "for the forseeable future", organisers have conceded.
The show – one of the largest agricultural events in the South of England – has been part of Berkshire life for more than a century.
However, the 2019 county show made a loss – partly due to poor weather on the Sunday – while both the 2020 and 2021 shows had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Newbury and District Agricultural Society, which runs the popular annual show, said it had "provided a perfect storm, from which it will take years to recover".
In a recent letter to members, it said: "In truth, this means that there is no prospect of a Royal County of Berkshire Show given the significant risk and cost of running such an event, at least in the foreseeable future.
"Our priority has to be to rebuild the charity's financial reserves as and when we can and manage all elements of risk appropriately in order to meet our charitable objectives that are clearly centred on education."
In October 2020, the society said it hoped the show would return in some capacity "as we do not want to lose the traditions built up over the last 100 plus years".
However, its admission that it may not be held again – certainly for the forseeable future – raises question marks about whether it will ever return at all.
The very first Newbury Show took place at Enborne Gate Farm on September 28, 1909.
Over the years, it has evolved from a simple livestock competition through to what it is now – a festival of farming, food and fun, which regularly draws in crowds of 60,000.
The show has seen many homes over the years, starting at Enborne Gate Farm, then Elcot Park, Henwick, Siege Cross, Shaw and finally residing at the Newbury Showground, which the society bought in 1984.
The society is now also reviewing the future of the showground itself and has a shortlist of eight parties interested in buying it.
