ORGANISERS of a flagship festival are being forced into a rethink – because it is so successful.

Ramsbottom Chocolate Festival took place in and around the town last weekend and even the rain could not keep sweet-toothed snack lovers away, as 20,000 people turned out to explore a range of attractions.

The massive turnout has now left organisers with a headache - of being the victim of its own success. Unless more people get on board, the event might have to be held once every two years, or use bigger venues.

For the eighth year running, the two-day festival, led by Ramsbottom Business Group, packed out the town centre with all manner of chocolate-themed treats available from more than 60 stalls.

Paul Morris, owner of The Chocolate Cafe in Ramsbottom, and one of the organisers, said: “There were times during Saturday morning that I feared the event may be a total washout.

“But despite the wet and windy conditions people still came in large numbers to indulge in all things chocolate.

“Everyone involved had earned a large mug of hot chocolate come Sunday evening.”

He continued: “I think we are going to struggle to keep growing the festival as we are constrained by what is possible in the space we have available.

“The chocolate festival takes a huge amount of organising and as a local business group we are not sure we can continue to manage it in-house long term .

“We are considering other options for the festival including making it biennial, bringing in an external event organiser or finding an alternate venue.”

Cllr Ian Bevan said: “Ramsbottom’s Chocolate Festival was set to be the biggest and best yet.

“The event attracted 30,000 people last year but due to poor weather, numbers were down this year, which in understandable.

“Ramsbottom has quite rightly become the top foodie town in the North West over the last few years.

“We have a tremendous number of good restaurants, gastro-pubs, tea rooms and independent shops selling a whole range of food.”