Council pull plug on Livingston's Halloween Scare Maze

A council ruling has put the nail in the coffin of Livingston’s planned Halloween immersive attraction #Livingdeadston at the eleventh hour, meaning the event cannot go ahead under current restrictions for pubs and clubs.
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LivingDeadston

The family friendly event was due to take place in Livingston’s Club Earth event from October 28 until November 8 with tickets sold over EventBrite. Now event promoter Darren Laurie has been told by council bosses that he has to pull the event at the eleventh hour after months of planning.In a statement released at today he said all those who have paid for tickets will receive refunds in the next two days and explained: ‘Unfortunately after investing upwards of £20,000 into our child friendly Halloween walk through experience we received an email from West Lothian Council to say that as the building has an alcohol license we cannot go ahead with the event under current restrictions for pubs and restaurants. There was to be no alcohol on sale. Groups of six were to go round the venue at seven minutes intervals in a one way direction. The event was both inside and outside with the biggest air exchange system in any licensed premises I have seen in 32 years in this industry.

‘We had taken on a further 32 temporary staff as guides and actors on top of our 18 staff. We would really like to thank Manchester based Visual Architects for all their work and input on this attraction. Much of the set had been built offsite already. Our full management plan and risk assessment was in place. All tickets purchased will be refunded through the ticket agent over the coming two days.”The statement continued: “Can we just apologise to everyone in the local community. We had planned an exciting Covid safe event for you all only to be stopped at the eleventh hour. We will however not stop trying to bring you cool fun ideas from the left field and we are in discussion with Manchester productions to create a Christmas extravaganza for all the family to enjoy. We will update the details on our social media platforms as soon as they are finalised. Thank you for both your support and understanding.’

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