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04
Nov 2020
Last Updated: 04/11/2020
Yorkshire Agricultural Society faces £2m loss
Chief executive Nigel Pulling says the society, which organises the Great Yorkshire Show, has been 'losing money at a rapid rate' since covid caused the cancellation of most events.
Nigel Pulling, chief executive of Yorkshire Agricultural Society.
Yorkshire Agricultural Society, which organises the Great Yorkshire Show, faces a £2m loss this year.
The farming charity, which was founded in 1837, may have to shed staff to cope with the ongoing impact of covid, which has decimated the number of events it can stage.
The society's income for the financial year ending 31 December 2019 was £11.9m. It has risen every year since 2015, when it was £9m.
But chief executive Nigel Pulling told the Stray Ferret he expected income to be £2m down this year. He said:
"We are looking at reducing our costs and waiting for everything to improve.
"We have about £5m in the bank but we are losing money at a rapid rate."
Read more:
- Harrogate events company folds after 46 years
- Yorkshire Showground cancelled events worth over £70 million
Mr Pulling's comments further illustrate how strongly the effects of covid on the events and conference sector were being felt in Harrogate.
Last month Harrogate events company Joe Manby Ltd folded after 46 years.
Plans to stage Great Yorkshire Show
The showground usually hosts 700 events a year, with the three-day Great Yorkshire Show by far the biggest.
But Mr Pulling, who has led the society since 2002, said it was operating at "well below 10 per cent" of capacity at the moment.
A rare bright note came yesterday when it was revealed the spring flower show is due to go ahead, albeit with a vastly reduced capacity.
Mr Pulling said the society had been "comparatively well financed" since it sold land to Sainsbury's for about £15m in the early 1990s.
But an £11m refurbishment of the Yorkshire Event Centre, completed in 2016, put a dent in its finances even though the project had been well received.
Mr Pulling said the first quarter of 2021 "doesn't look good" but the second quarter was the crucial period for the events sector. Next year, he said, was "up for grabs".
He said the society still planned to stage the Great Yorkshire Show next summer, adding:
"But it's too early to be specific about what it will look like."
The society employed about 100 staff pre-covid. Mr Pulling said this figure had reduced by fewer than 20 due to natural wastage but it had to look at reducing costs further. He said:
"It has been devastating to see the effects covid has had for everyone – and the events industry has been among the hardest hit."
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