Joe GallopOverflo festival (cap. 10,000) has been postponed after Southwark Council withdrew permission for the London event to take place following the Queen’s death.
Organisers said the event was not able to take place on 18 September due to Burgess Park and the borough of Southwark being heavily involved in Operation London Bridge – the funeral plan for Queen Elizabeth II.
The festival was created by Nadine Noor Ahmad and Naeem Davis, co-founders of London club nights Pxssy Palace and BBZ. It was set up to celebrate Black and POC LGBTQ+ arts and culture.
It follows the cancellation of events such as BBC Radio 2 Live in Leeds, the Mercury Prize at Eventim Apollo and Edinburgh’s FLY Open Air.
“We tried to fight it as much as possible but the powers that be have had the last word,” Overflo organisers said in a statement.
“Southwark Council are the landowner of Burgess Park and therefore have the ability to cancel the event for reasons of reputation and also for public safety. In addition to this, we work closely with the Safety Advisory Group which includes members of London Ambulance Service, the Metropolitan Police and Environmental Health, all of whom will no longer have the resources to support the event going ahead next weekend.
“Whilst we do have our own resources that are paid for by the event, all events in Southwark have to work closely with the authorities who give resource to the events to ensure protection of the event locally. They need to be reassured that in the event of an incident occurring at the event there is enough police resource and ambulance resource to deal with this and unfortunately all resource is being drafted in to support with the Queen’s funeral and advance planning.”