The mood was good, advance sales were running, there were enough verbal commitments from restaurateurs, but this year too the popular Honky Tonk pub festival, which attracted several thousand visitors to Würzburg city center every autumn, will not be able to take place. Wolfgang Weier, the Würzburg “deputy” of the organizing agency L19 from Schweinfurt, confirmed this upon request.
Too many restaurateurs withdrew their commitments shortly before signing
At the beginning of July, the start of advance sales was announced in a press release. “We have now paid people their money back,” reports Weier. “As was the case last year, we were unable to get the number of restaurants we needed together.” Although there were enough verbal commitments, too many restaurateurs withdrew them shortly before signing.
The festival organizers would need around 20 bars and pubs plus the after-show locations to put on a good Honky Tonk in Würzburg, but this year only 12 were left who wanted to take part. “And if three thousand people or more parade through the city in the evening, that’s not enough for us,” says Weier. “We don’t need to start with 12 or 14, that wouldn’t do the event justice. We wouldn’t be able to accommodate half the people.”
But the festival organizers are not angry with the Würzburg restaurateurs
“We had great sponsorship, even better than last year, we were much earlier with all the preparations including advance sales, we had a lot of confirmations – and then came the cancellations, “No, we can’t,” he reports. But he is not angry with the restaurateurs. “The restaurant industry in Würzburg is suffering from a variety of problems and challenges, these are all individual reasons,” he says. “One has too few staff, the other cannot manage the organization, all understandable, but all in all it is too much for us.”
Will there be a Honky Tonk in Würzburg again in 2025?
“Of course we are disappointed, but these are usually external factors, such as the lack of staff, which the restaurateurs have no influence over. And as long as these are not resolved, we do not need to compete.” What does this mean for 2025? Will there be a Honky Tonk in Würzburg again? “We will check again,” says Weier. “But I am not confident.”
