A PRIDE event has been postponed following the government's announcement on the delay in ending Covid-19 restrictions.

This year's Worthing Pride, which celebrates lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, was originally due to take place on July 10. It has been rescheduled for September 18. Despite the change of date, there will still be the same acts, traders, stalls and location.

The delay has come after the potential death rate rose due to the new delta variant of Covid-19, leading to the PM to delay the loosening of restrictions from the original date of June 21 and move it to July 19.

A spokesman from the event organisers said: "The safety of our guests has always been our number one priority and all of our risk assessments detailed the fact that if government guidelines changed, we would look to move our date and have plans in place for this to happen.

"We have worked incredibly hard behind the scenes with all the local government's agencies to ensure that we will be able to bring Worthing Pride to life this year.

The Argus: Worthing Pride 2019Worthing Pride 2019

"We have ensured that all acts, traders and infrastructure are available for this event to go ahead as planned on the new date, so this is simply a chance for every single one of our guests to 'get jabbed' and ensure that we are all set to close the summer in style at Worthing Pride.

"This isn't the news we wanted to break; however, customer safety must remain our number one priority, and we cannot wait to see you all in September."

The organisers had sold 60 per cent of their available tickets before the announcement of pausing the restrictions.

All tickets already purchased via our ticketing site will remain valid. Anyone unable to make the new date will be entitled to a full refund under the terms and conditions listed on the organiser's website.

He said: "The aim has always been to put on the party that the town deserves, and doing this with current restrictions in place reflects does not reflect the overall cause of Pride.

"Investment has been huge this year from The Worthing Pride organisers, local government and partners, carrying over losses from the first postponement with no support from the government, makes this decision a very difficult one.

"The whole festival supply chain has been affected by these choices, but no doubt the UK festival scene will bounce back once again, and we encourage our guest to support all small festivals in the UK."