Brighton’s licensing manager has said that there are no guarantees summer events like Pride, Fringe, Warren and the Brighton Festival will go ahead.

Jim Whitelegg made the comments after a councillor questioned why the city was yet to respond to recent announcements from festival operators that their events will certainly be taking place.

Brighton Pride recently put tickets up on sale for its 2021 edition, which is planned for 6-8 August. These dates fall well within the Government lockdown roadmap, which earmarked 21 June as the date for reopening the country in full.

Whilst councillors have expressed their dismay with festivals announcing dates, Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival chief executive Andrew Comben said that all possible contingency plans had been made should the public health outlook change.

“We have already planned substantial parts of our programme to be online and have contingency plans in place to convert more to online events if needed.

“We are also rescheduling some of our planned indoor socially distanced events to later dates to give artists and audiences the best chance of them taking place.

“Artists have responded to restrictions in brilliantly creative ways and we are confident that the experience of the festival, although very different from other years, will be a rich and rewarding one for everyone.”