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Crime pays for North Yorkshire festival town

The jewel in Harrogate International Festivals’ crown, the annual four-day Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, has made another killing for the town in its tenth anniversary year and marked the milestone by making the 2013 event the biggest ever, with 14,000 tickets sold.

The celebration of the dark art of crime fiction, which broke camp on Sunday, was held at the world famous Old Swan Hotel, where Agatha Christie was sensationally discovered in residence under a pseudonym after her mysterious disappearance in 1926. And the evocative setting not only drew record breaking crowds but inspired what is expected to be the highest ever spend by delegates too, all making for soaring crime figures that are very welcome.

And together with its parent, Harrogate International Festivals, the event has done much to demonstrate that cultural exercises are not dependant on grants and a drain on the public purse, but can in fact fuel local economies.

According to Sharon Canovar, Harrogate International Festivals CEO, the crime fest is the acme of an arts enterprise for austerity Britain: a robust self-reliant attraction that provides a great financial stimulus to the area that hosts it. “In Harrogate, the arts are the heart and driving force of local economies and business and with only 2% of Festival income drawn from public funds, it is a huge commercial asset. The majority (52%) of audiences are from outside the district, with 5% from overseas.”

“Admissions are great indicators of a viable draw. This year’s ticket numbers are 13% up on the 12,374 sold in 2012, which itself was 44% more than in 2011, while accommodation packages are rising year-on-year too. This is all great news for hotels and the wider hospitality sector, taxi firms, public transport operators, retailers and service providers of every type in the town and surrounding areas.”

Not only do local businesses benefit from the increased footfall, but brands can create incredibly powerful sponsorships, as Theakstons has demonstrated. Indeed, managing director, Simon Theakston, has credited the annual gathering for taking his beer’s brand far and wide now the Festival is recognised as the biggest and best of its type in the world.

“It’s given us huge commercial benefit as Theakstons is an unconventional brewery with many brands, which need to be marketed in very different ways - and Old Peculier is certainly a standalone, unusual beer. We felt that it chimed with crime fiction, in that it is named after Masham’s mediaeval judiciary apparatus, the Court of the Peculier; like a whodunnit it is mysterious with not everything immediately obvious at first; and the unique taste needs to be contemplated and mulled over. You don’t get the full appreciation of the beer until it’s been finished, just as the satisfying conclusion to a crime story comes at the end.

“The branding offered by the Festival has opened a completely new audience of potential customers and from a corporate point of view, we also get to raise awareness of the wider company.”

And agents and publishers across the globe recognise the crime fest’s business potential, seizing the many opportunities to publicise themselves and their authors by supporting individual sessions and handing out promotional tasters of upcoming novels, complete books, t-shirts, bookmarks and pens in heavily branded, eye-catching goodie bags. Meanwhile, deals are done behind closed doors and valuable networking accomplished.

Meanwhile, the event runs an increasingly sophisticated merchandising operation, which sees a greater choice of souvenir items snapped up by a greater number of eager fans every year

With 81 authors and panellists appearing at 21 separate sessions, this year’s headliners were undisputed crime royalty: Baroness Ruth Rendell; Lee Child, the New York-based British creator of Jack Reacher, who was interviewed hilariously by Sarah Millican; and Yorkshire’s own Kate Atkinson. And for the 60th anniversary of 007’s debut outing, in Casino Royale, a ‘Bondage’ theme threaded through proceedings, including a James Bond Murder Mystery Dinner.

Sharon Canovar added: “Harrogate is a tourism destination. It used to thrive on its spa offer, before refocusing on the conference trade, but tourism is now to the fore and anyone who has been to Edinburgh, Hay or Manchester knows how a major festival can put a location on the international map as a ‘must-visit’ destination.

“And in just two years, during the most difficult economic times, the wider Harrogate International Festivals doubled its economic impact on the town and district, to £8.2m.”

The International Festival will continue to lull local, national and overseas audiences from their TVs until the end of July. With hundreds of unique performances, interview sessions and recitals of all types by diverse talents such as Michael Palin, Lesley Garrett, Deborah Moggach, Ann Widdecombe, Tim Rice, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Richard & Judy, the business of entertaining and informing in the town centre represents very big business for Harrogate.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by David Gatehouse .