A company that stages drive-in cinemas is involved in a public row with Bath Hot Air Balloon Club over a cancelled booking in the run up to Christmas.
Snake Meadows on Bath Road in Saltford | Image © Google Street View / Google 2024
Both Wonder Cinema and the balloon club, based at Snake Meadows on Bath Road in Saltford, took to Facebook yesterday to explain their side of the story.
The balloon club say that Wonder Cinema, who have been selling tickets for screenings on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th December with live acts before each film, don’t have permission to use the field.
Meanwhile, Bath Hot Air Balloon Club have been selling tickets for their own event over several nights during which people can see Santa fly over and land at Snake Meadows.
The club yesterday put an “urgent” message on their Facebook page saying that they had been approached by a cinema company that wanted to hire the field but after speaking with them the first time, “all communications stopped”.
The club said: “We tried contacting them again after receiving letters from the council about licensing and road traffic management plan but with no reply.
“We have been informed this company is advertising with our address on there (sic) site, we have text them saying to cancel this and nothing is going ahead.
“This event will not be happening in our field or has anything to do with us. please contact the vendor you purchased your tickets from for information.”
Wonder Cinema have been selling tickets for two films on 13th December – Elf and The Greatest Showman, and Home Alone and The Polar Express on the 14th.
Wonder Cinema posted on their Facebook page yesterday: “We wanted to avoid making this statement as we have attempted to reach a consensus between ourselves and our venue holder at Bristol/Bath but after multiple failed contact attempts, we feel it’s more important keep you informed as our loyal customers.
“Unfortunately, our venue partner, Bath Hot Air Balloon Club, cancelled our booking without notifying us directly. We only found out when a customer reached out on October 29th, stating that a new event was being advertised, which we had no knowledge of.
“We have since sent a formal demand letter to the venue and taken steps to resolve this situation. To clarify, we have:
- Followed all legal requirements, including coordinating with the council and ESAG (Event Safety Advisory Group), this was the ‘letters from the council’ mentioned in their statement which we will stress is NOT a legal requirement and consisted of two emails, the first being advisory, the second being a clarification from them stating that it is in fact is not a legal requirement.
- Begun the TENs (temporary event notices) licensing process (which IS a legal requirement but only requires submission within 10 days of the event).
- Tried to contact the venue holder on multiple occasions to resolve this situation amicably with multiple texts and phone calls, to be ignored, we’d also like to note publicly that we have evidence pertaining to the venue approaching us with the enquiry of a cinema, as well as confirmation of the event from the venue holder, promotion of this event on their social media, and finally no notification of cancellation or rearrangement.
“We’re committed to making this event happen and are exploring alternative venues within a 15-mile radius of the original site as a precaution.
“We’ll update all customers by November 30th with the next steps so we do ask graciously that you allow us time to deal with this situation best we can and we thank you for your understanding and support.
“Please know that we are doing everything possible to protect your experience and investment.”
Wonder Cinema have demanded compensation from Bath Hot Air Balloon Club for financial losses incurred.
