THIS year's Abergavenny Christmas Festival has been cancelled, with organisers saying renovation work on the venue would have hurt footfall.

The popular festive event, organised by the same team behind Abergavenny Food Festival, draws a wide range of stallholders selling Christmas gifts, food, and drinks.

But organisers pulled the plug on this year's festival over fears the event would be disrupted by building work. Monmouthshire County Council is in the middle of renovating Abergavenny's town hall, with the intention of re-launching it as a town hub for the authority's public services.

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Would-be visitors to the Christmas Festival, who had already bought tickets, can obtain a refund.

In a statement, the festival's organisers said ongoing building work in the market hall and upper Brewery Yard would limit the number of traders that could be accommodated. The cost of delivering the event had also increased, they said.

"As a result we took the difficult decision to cancel, rather than proceed with an event where we cannot be confident of the footfall and retail opportunity for our stallholder community," the organisers said.

Monmouthshire council did not respond to the festival organisers' comments, but a spokeswoman for the local authority said the town's market hall remained open and a "hive of activity" for visitors.

People who had bought wristbands for this year's Christmas Festival have been sent an email offering them a refund, or the chance to transfer their tickets to the main Abergavenny Food Festival in 2020, the organisers said.