Revamped open air theatre may come to rescue of music event

The Beached event had attracted thousands of festival goers to the sands of the South Bay by booking top bands just as they were about to become global stars.

More than 400 bands have played Beached over its eight-year history including chart-toppers such as Kaiser Chiefs, the Libertines, the Fratellis, the Hoosiers and the Enemy.

Previous Beached festivals also helped launch the careers of the Bluetones, Amy Macdonald and Nine Black Alps. The festival also launched its own School of Rock to encourage budding musicians.

But in spite of the huge turn- out and quality of the acts the company which ran the flagship festival was wound up – owing Scarborough Council nearly 7,000.

Beached was last held on the South Bay in August 2008 when headliners Britpop favourites Dodgy and Helmsley rockers One Night Only, attracted about 20,000 music lovers.

But the event was overshadowed by an alleged sex attack on a teenage girl in one of the site's toilets. A 17-year-old Whitby youth was cleared by a jury of rape following a trial.

H2O Beached Ltd, which had traded from Belgrave Crescent, Scarborough, was subsequently wound up and placed in the hands of liquidators.

Now Coun David Jeffels, a guiding light of the resort's tourism industry, hopes the curtain could rise again on a similar event – this time in the surrounds of the resort's revamped Open Air Theatre.

Scarborough has lacked a dedicated venue to host the biggest names in the music scene since losing both its town centre live entertainment venues, The Penthouse and Taboo, in the early 1980s. From the 60s until the late 1970s the Penthouse had hosted just about every major act from Led Zeppelin to the Sex Pistols, while future stars such as U2 made some of their first appearances at Taboo.

Now the resort's Open Air Theatre – the biggest open air auditorium in Europe – is back in action after a 3.5m revamp and grand opening by the Queen last month.

Coun Jeffels said: "The Open Air Theatre would lend itself very well to such a festival as that. The Beached Festivals were a great success.

"They catered for the young generation and had some first- class bands and provided some excellent entertainment. It was all free of charge and a lot of volunteer work went into making it a success.

"It would be good if they did come back because it would cater to the town's image and show we appealing to people of all ages. Scarborough caters for everyone – the older generation, families and teenagers.

"It was very professionally staged and had a wide appeal. So there is now a gap in the market. I would like to think particularly having the Open Air Theatre we can cater for that market again. With its six and half thousand seats, I am sure we could stage a similar event."

He also believed that festival- goers would be less likely to be deterred by the adverse weather conditions that had blighted the start of Scarborough's summer season.

However, Scarborough Council looks unlikely to recover moneys owed by the former organisers. The authority's head of legal services, Ian Anderson, said the company has debts to the council of 6,968.

He added: "The council took action to attempt to recover monies from H2O Beached Limited. However, the company is in liquidation. The liabilities of the company were limited by issued shares."