Sad times

It is with a heavy heart that we write to you to say that we have taken the difficult decision to cancel the Independent Bath awards ceremony next Wednesday.

We simply have not sold enough tickets to break even and we cannot afford to put the event on at a loss.

When we set out to put on these awards we wanted to break the mould for awards ceremonies in Bath and put on a truly celebratory evening for Bath's wonderful array of independent businesses. Since February when we launched Independent Bath we have worked tirelessly to put together an event that we feel does justice to you and your businesses. Some people have commented that the ticket price of £60 was too expensive but without backers, sponsors or advertisers we were entirely dependent upon ticket sales. We have not at any stage considered paying ourselves for our own time as we really did start Independent Bath out of a love for you, the independent business owners of Bath. As a result of all this we were happy that we managed to keep our ticket price at less than half that of some of the city's other awards whilst still planning an evening that would be fun and above all else memorable and beneficial to your business.

We were delighted that so many businesses took the time to enter but sadly this has not translated into ticket sales. What we were very keen to preserve was the integrity of the event we wanted to put on - we didn't want this to simply be a diner or a networking drinks. We wanted to put on a spectacular celebration of your businesses as one of the truly unique things about the city of Bath.

Our judges spent an unpaid evening at the beginning of September discussing (sometimes very passionately and heatedly!) who should win each category. This was an incredibly inspiring evening and we all came away from the judging night feeling proud to live and work amongst such wonderful businesses.

We have decided to announce the winners online next Wednesday from 6pm so that all the time and effort you and our judges have put in is not wasted. The artist who is making the awards has nearly finished them and so once the winners are announced we can arrange for these to be collected.

We fully plan to come back bigger and better next year so watch this space because your feedback will be central to how we grow.

If you have bought tickets you will receive a separate notification from Komedia about this and your refunds.

Many thanks again for all of your support over the last eight months.

Sarah and Erica xx