Final curtain for New Year Proms

The Last Night of the Preston Proms has been held at the Guild Hall on New Year’s Eve for the last two decades, but bosses say it will not run this year.

Guild Hall chiefs say the decision was made with “deep regret”, but say they are already working on events for 2017.

A member of the Guild Hall’s programming department said: “It is with deep regret that we have had to take the decision that the Last Night of The Preston Proms event will not be taking place at the Preston Guild Hall this year. The very difficult decision has been made after long negotiations with the promoter Raymond Gubbays but unfortunately, at this time, the event was not viable for the venue.

“Our long-standing relationship with Raymond Gubbays still continues and we hope to bring more of their events to the venue in the coming years.”

Richard Simkin, Head of Operation at the Guild Hall said leaders were “extremely sad” at the news, but said there were many events planned over the festive period.

He said: “We have already booked some big names over the festive period, bringing great acts such as Brian May and Kerry Ellis, The Osmonds, Boney M and Odyssey as well as our in-house pantomime Jack and The Beanstalk to the venue as part of our Christmas package.

“We also have a strong classical offering with other events such as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra whose season of six concerts includes a wonderful performance on Monday 19th December presented by Classic FM’s John Suchet.

“We are extremely sad that we are unable to bring the Last Night of the Proms event back this year but we’re already working on our offer for 2017 for the people of Preston.”

Anthony Findlay, chief executive of Raymond Gubbay, added: “It’s a shame it’s not happening this year, but we are already in discussion with the venue about next year.”