We live next to Boardmasters – 50,000 tourists flock to seaside town & traffic is awful but we know how to beat visitors
RESIDENTS of a small village have revealed the chaos that comes with living next to the site of one of the UK's most popular festivals - Boardmasters.
Locals of Porth, , see up to 50,000 tourists flock to the area to enjoy five days of sun, surfing and live music every year.
Joy Dixon, who runs a cafe in the village with her daughter Hannah, told : "Boardmasters is our busiest time of the year and we’re starting to get the young ones in today.
"Porth has changed partly because of Boardmasters but...we're used to it."
While the festival brings in lots of extra business, she did admit that it can be a struggle to keep up with demand, especially as many of her staff also like to go to the event.
She added: "I think you lose something along the way like that.
READ MORE UK NEWS
"You can’t give the service and a lot of our staff also go to Boardmasters so we don’t want to take that from them.
"We couldn't do it without everyone - we're all a big team and a lot of staff are literally family."
However, one holidaymaker said that the extra traffic brought by crowds of festivalgoers was a struggle.
They said: "We had no idea until now what all the traffic was about - we just know Cornwall gets busy in the summer."
Most read in The Sun
On the opening day of the festival, roads were "jammed" with cars, according to local reports.
Bus services were delayed in the area, with one operator even suspending a local service "due to Boardmasters".
Queues stretched back to Porth Beach, while one user slammed the situation as a "free for all disrupting locals' lives".
Another added: "Traffic chaos.
"Spent 50 minutes queuing from Boardmaster's camping turn off...after a 25-minute driver to the airport.
"Both are usually five minutes. Bumper to bumper."
The problem was added to by the fact that several car parks were closed, with one in nearby Newquay briefly allowing free parking after being vandalised.
Meanwhile, just up the road, one woman who has lived in the area for almost 40 years, recognised that there were issues with traffic as the tiny village isn't really built to handle such a large population.
She said: "I've lived here 37 years and so we're so used to the holidaymakers and we're really glad they bring the money down although the traffic is never as bad all summer as it is right now [arrival day for Boardmasters]."
On the other hand, she admitted that locals are "used to" holidaymakers coming down and are grateful for the boost to the local economy.
She added: "We really do love to watch it and from here can you see just so many people having fun.
"Yes, it can be difficult for people going that way to get to work but it's mostly nice to see them enjoying themselves."
The festival is also good news for small businesses in the area, with the extra customers a particular boost for the hospitality industry.
Mary Hodd, who runs Poco Loco Burrito, has set up a stall at the event and expects to sell "thousands" of tasty wraps.
She said: "Our house is only ten minutes away so this is amazing for us."
READ MORE SUN STORIES
It comes after crowds of fans enjoyed a rock festival in complete luxury at an adults-only UK hotel.
And as summer rolls on, The Sun gave our top picks for the best festival bags.
