Why aren’t picnics allowed at Snape?

Picnics have never been allowed on the Snape Maltings site: whilst they may have been tolerated, for many years there has been a sign at the entrance to the complex saying ‘Picnics not allowed’. This was also in our brochures. The decision is not in our hands. Aldeburgh Music leases only part of the site. We work closely with our landlord and the owner of the whole complex, Mr J Gooderham, and have agreed to help him to enforce the ‘no picnic’ policy. Whilst 60,000 people attend concerts here, the site attracts 500,000 visitors a year. Picnics during the day were becoming a problem and it became necessary to enforce more systematically the policy that had been in place for a long time.