3am licence for town nightclub during Montrose Music Festival
One of Montrose's busiest bars will stay open until 3am throughout the town music festival next weekend.
Thousands are expected to head to Angus for the packed three-day programme at 15 venues on May 23-25.
In 2024, Montrose Music Festival saw more than 50 acts perform.
And this year's event is set to be an even bigger hit with a whopping 97 bands and artists booked to play.
On Thursday, Angus licensing board gave the event a vote of confidence with a 3am licence for Utopia nightclub in George Street.
The committee unanimously backed the venue's extended hours application.
The 3am opening will cover the festival's official opening night party on Thursday May 22, as well as Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
It will also be allowed to open all day on Saturday from noon.
The club's supporting statement said: 'Montrose Music Festival has been boosting the local economy for over 15 years, not only benefiting licensed premises but shops, hotels, guesthouses, food and drink producers, retail units, hairdressers and more.
'The festival this year is more important than ever given the recent decline in the hospitality industry.'
Utopia's manager is part of the volunteer music festival committee and directly involved in the event's wider organisation.
'It makes a massive difference to us,' said a club representative.
'Last year the police were very happy, we've a very good working relationship with the police.'
Montrose councillor Kenny Braes said: 'I do consider it an event of certainly local significance.
'But it also attracts people from way beyond Angus.
'I'm very comfortable with this application given that it all went off smoothly last time.'
Fellow town councillor Tommy Stewart added: 'Montrose Music Festival is a fantastic event.
'It did shut down for a wee while and it's come back in the last few years. The money generated in the town over the weekend is not just for the pubs, it's good for hotels, restaurants, caravan sites and shops.
'Everybody benefits from it.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Courier
26-05-2025
- The Courier
Great pictures as Montrose Music Festival is another smash hit
Montrose Music Festival struck the high notes on a packed weekend of entertainment for all ages. The organisers' efforts in bringing almost 100 acts to the town was rewarded with a huge turnout at the High Street stage on Saturday. Emerald Sunday, Florence Jack and Ben Walker were among the names who performed there. Youngsters from the Gordon School of Highland Dancing were also a hit with the crowd. In the packed pubs, there was something for every musical taste. The fun continued on Sunday with a family fun day at Union Park Community Sports Hub.
The Courier
23-05-2025
- The Courier
Montrose set for mighty music festival weekend
Montrose Music Festival is all set to take its place at the heart of Scotland's music scene this weekend. Almost 100 acts are due to perform at 15 venues across the town. These include hometown favourite Ben Walker, who will close the High Street stage on Saturday. And the line-up features a host of names from across Angus. The festival team has also added a Sunday family fun event at the town's new Union Park Community Hub. Once again, the High Street stage is expected to be a huge hit, with fingers crossed the weather will play ball. After an absence of a few years, the popular event returned in 2024. A spokesperson said: 'The team has worked hard to make it bigger and better than our comeback last year. 'We have 97 acts over 15 venues and our High Street event, as well as our brand new family fun day at Union Park Community Sports Hub. 'We have secured some amazing acts at both the High Street and Union Park. Making a return to the High Street stage will be Peyton Place and Emerald Sunday. Young Arbroath band The Westways are also set to appear there. And Saturday will be a big day for Montrose lad Ben Walker when he closes the programme. The host for the day is Original 106 DJ Claire Kinnaird. The festival team added: 'At Union Park we have five amazing artists, including 14-year-old Islay Crowe, Josh Moncreiff, Stephen McCaffery and the False Summits.' They say Sunday promises to be an action-packed family event. 'There is a fantastic selection of acts in our official venues, including festival favourites such as Sorella, Calum Campbell, Remedy, Cover Daddy and Late Landing. 'We have some great cover bands and have introduced a lot of young up-and-coming talent to continue to support them as much as we can.' More details of the programme and bands are available on the festival Facebook page.
Spectator
21-05-2025
- Spectator
Thomas More's courage is an inspiration for all time
Three years ago, when memories of the final series of HBO's Game of Thrones were still fresh, Joanne Paul published The House of Dudley, a gripping account of three generations of the Dudley family, whose efforts to seize the crown from the Tudors, as I noted in these pages, made the machinations of the Lannisters and the Starks look tame. Now, hard on the heels of the final instalment of the BBC's adaptation of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy – and with a revival of Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons opening in the West End in August – Paul has published another book equally attuned to the zeitgeist. Thomas More is a biography of the man known to posterity as both St Thomas More and Sir Thomas More, an enigmatic figure variously worshipped as a saintly martyr and vilified as a dogmatic zealot. The author of Utopia (1516), arguably the most influential work of literature by an Englishman between Chaucer and Shakespeare, More was a friend to the Dutch humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam and a patron of the German-born Hans Holbein the Younger, whose 1527 portrait of More wearing his golden chain of esses (a signifier of loyalty to the crown) is one of the most instantly recognisable images of the early 16th century. More was one of the greatest legal minds of his generation in England. Appointed Cardinal Wolsey's successor as Lord Chancellor in 1529, he – unlike Wolsey, who had favoured a conciliatory approach to the widening confessional divide – used the powers of his office to root out Lutherans and others he deemed guilty of heresy.
