MILAN – The London Coffee Festival, which was set to take place in the first week of April, has been postponed, due to the ongoing fears surrounding the spread of Coronavirus in the UK and globally.
The annual event at the Truman Brewery in Hackney will be moved from its original date of 2 — 5 April to 23 — 26 July 2020, also postponing the annual Coffee Masters competition which runs in London and New York City.
The following statement was posted on the Facebook page of the London Coffee Festival:
“After a thorough assessment of the current Coronavirus situation in the U.K. and globally, and in the interest of the safety of all of our visitors, we have made the incredibly difficult decision to postpone the festival. All ticket holders & exhibitors have been contacted with further information.
The good news is that LCF will return in July with the same action-packed programme, including Coffee Masters and of course all of our 10th birthday celebrations. Tickets will be back online soon – Thank you for all of your support and understanding.”
Jeffrey Young, CEO of Allegra Group, the organiser of the event, told the Standard:
“We took the decision to be ahead of the game. It’s going to be quite financially damaging. We just thought it’s [coronavirus] going to get worse not better. We wanted to be part of helping to create a delay so the health authorities can delay the outbreak.
“It will cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to postpone this, ultimately.”
The festival, which marks its 10th birthday this year, was due to welcome 250 exhibitors and around 30,000 visitors this year in its “biggest celebration yet”.
