Haworth’s popular 1940s Weekend lost hundreds of pounds due to unofficial traders, it has emerged.

Now organisers of the annual extravaganza, which draws thousands of people to the village, warn that next year’s event could be under threat.

The ‘fly pitchers’ included people selling out of the backs of their cars. As many as 10,000 visitors descended on the village at the weekend to experience wartime nostalgia.

Linda Presley, chairman of Haworth Village Assoc-iation, which stages the event, said visitors had a wonderful time. But she said the expense involved in running the event meant it would have lost money. “We lost hundreds of pounds worth of revenue to unauthorised traders and unauthorised car parks,” she said.

“It was very frustrating. We’d spent so much time and effort arranging matters with approved businesses, only for other people to come along and cash in.

“We also had a lot of coaches arrive which had not booked. That caused problems at about 4pm on Sunday.”

The village association this year had to pay a traffic management company to alleviate congestion.

Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council chairman, Councillor John Huxley, said: “The event itself was highly successful and a lot of local organisations and business will have benefited from it.

“The organisers deserve a great deal of credit.

“But there are quite a number of lessons to learn for everybody. There are many groups that benefit from this event which do not make a contribution to its organisation or financing.

“It’s something that the village as a whole needs to think about.”

  • Read the full story in Tuesday's T&A