Aeon Events and Wild Fruit would like to respond to the attack on our integrity and honesty in the statement Pride put on their website on Friday November 14.

Firstly, Pride are not privy to operational information of the bar operators, so we can’t understand how they came to the assertion in their statement that huge amounts of stock was not returned.

This was not the case and the bars were operated efficiently. Pride states:
“In a successful year the bars contractor will make a healthy profit”.

As bar operators on the park, Pride sold us the franchise for three years. We also pay for all the bars infrastructure costs. We are not complaining specifically about this years losses as we do see our investment as a three year plan, however Pride informed us that they propose to cut four of the eight bars on the park. We  understand that Pride may wish to change the format of the park but feel this is rather drastic!

As a small, gay run & gay owned business we would never be able to recoup the losses from this years event operating just four bars. When talking about profits maybe Pride should criticise the off licenses & illegal hawkers who make huge profits (giving nothing back to Pride!) rather than the people who they are meant to be working in partnership with.

Aeon Events and Wild Fruit do not receive any income revenue from the Wild Fruit tent. Pride set the sponsorship for the tent and we have been happy to pay that and outlay a considerable amount of extra money on production, this year amounting to £12,423.19 on top of a £5,000 sponsorship payment so that visitors have a great time on the park.

The dance tent is like all other entertainment tents, an attraction which brings people to the park to visit the community village and other attractions. It so happens that its one of the most popular and has helped Brighton Pride establish itself as an international brand bringing prestige to the City.

If people compare the costs per head of each tent on the park, they will find that the dance tent costs per head are on par with all the other tents.

The recent Pride proposals say that:
“In 2010 Pride will not.. encourage.. dance tents at the main park event”. This clearly states Pride’s position. Further, I was told by Yvonne Barker, the chair of Pride after this year’s event, that the dance tent attracts “the wrong type of people” to the park.

This is an insult to the LGBT people who enjoy the dance tent at Pride, many who have helped Wild Fruit raise substantial funds for Pride and local LGBT voluntary sector organisations over the years. The other dance areas – Popstarz, the Girls' Tent and the Bears' Tent – are not paid for by Pride, they are completely funded by the bar operators, yet they have also been cut in Pride’s proposals.

It's true to say that the dance tents are not everyone's cup of tea but its about diversity on the park. That is what Pride is all about, or supposed to be.

Aeon Events lost £54,547.19 on this years Pride (I have documentation to back this up). At no point have we said this was from the bars alone and we have only mentioned the loss when challenging inaccuracies issued by Pride on the Save Brighton and Hove as we know it facegroup site.

The Pride statement is just a smoke screen for their high core costs which include their staff wages.

I am extremely disappointed that Pride have chosen to single out and attack one of their staunchest supporters and zealous fundraisers.

Maybe this is an indicator of why Pride has received support from so few LGBT businesses in Brighton and Hove during their present financial crisis.