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Angry pirates today launched a broadside at Torbay Council over Mayor Gordon Oliver's decision to fund next year's Grinagog arts and music festival in Torquay.

The Mayor has agreed to back the Grinagog festival, which made its debut in 2017 and is looking for support to go ahead into the future. Grinagog, which saw a variety of events focused on Torre Abbey and other seafront venues, cost £189,000 to stage.

(Image: Dom Moore)

It made a loss of £28,000 which had to be underwritten by the council, and the Mayor has now agreed to continue to back it for the next three years as long as it stays within budget.

Now the team behind the Brixham Pirate Festival is calling for the same kind of help. Committee member Richard Stride said: "We're not 'anti' any other festival in Torbay. They are all attractions bringing people in.

(Image: Kathy Uglow/Pyramid Photography)

"But Grinagog lost more money than the Brixham Pirate Festival costs to put on in total. The committee were distraught when they saw the figures involved in Grinagog. We just need the same breaks that Grinagog is getting."

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A report to the council said that Grinagog had been 'a relative success' with more than 3,000 paying customers. It had attracted goodwill from the local community and was likely to grow into a bigger and stronger event in coming years.

Brixham Pirate Festival, which brings a weekend of music and events to the port, was given minimal funding by Brixham Council and the Mayor's Fund. Mr Stride said: "We estimate that we get more people in a day than Grinagog gets in total. The pirate festival made a tiny profit to be put into the 2018 event.

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"The whole thing cost £27,000 to put on, which is less than Grinagog lost! It beggars belief that the council pour so much money into a loss-making event run by people from outside the bay but they repeatedly refuse to support a locally-run event that attracts thousands of people to the bay."

Organisers of the pirate festival will be lobbying their local councillors in pursuit of equal treatment.

Mr Stride added: "We have nothing against Grinagog at all. We just want equal treatment."