On Air Now

Darren Lethem

6:00pm - 10:00pm

  • 01723 336444

Now Playing

Stevie Wonder

My Cherie Amour

Download

Appleby Horse Fair: Major traveller community event leaves fields littered with rubbish

A major gathering of the travelling community has left fields covered in rubbish and debris.

Pictures and videos published of the aftermath of the Appleby Horse Fair showed litter, including plastic bags, unwanted furniture, empty crates, and cardboard boxes strewn across the site in the east Cumbrian market town of Appleby-in-Westmoreland.

On Monday, organisers published images of workers beginning to clean up.

Politics latest: Winter fuel payments cut u-turn details later

A handful of vehicles, including caravans, were visible, and fields had been churned up by tyres and turned into muddy tracks where people had driven across the area.

Westmorland and Furness Council said its statement will include "reactions to how this year's fair has gone and the efforts being made to ensure a swift and thorough clean-up.

"Waste management and street cleaning teams operate in Appleby and the outlying areas throughout the fair, including during this final phase," the council's communications and engagement manager, John Everingham said.

A burnt-out white Ford transit van could also be seen following a fire on the Trade Field shortly before noon on Saturday, which police said they were not treating as suspicious.

Cumbria Police said they attended, with firefighters and "crews extinguishing the fire - which did not spread beyond the vehicle - by midday".

No one was injured, the force said.

Pictures and videos published online over the weekend showed the van in flames.

The fair is a week-long "annual gathering of Gypsies and Travellers in the town of Appleby-in-Westmorland" in early June, which draws around 10,000 Gypsies and Travellers and more than 30,000 other visitors, the event's official website said.

Read more:
'Pandemonium' in downtown LA
1m more blood donors needed
Premier Lg's first black ref dies

The fair incorporates a range of activities, including horse riding, horse trading, storytelling, and traditional music and dance.

Temporary litter bins are provided during the fair.

Around 30 arrests were made before the fair began, police said, mostly for road offences.

Appleby-in-Westmoreland is located between the Lake District National Park and the North Pennines and had a registered population of a little over 3,000 at the 2011 census.

Sky News

(c) Sky News 2025: Appleby Horse Fair: Major traveller community event leaves fields littered with rubbish

Did you find this article useful?

This is the Coast is committed to providing a daily local news service for the Yorkshire Coast. We are a small locally owned and operated business which employs professional journalists and reporters. We do not receive any public funding or grants and we are entirely funded by our local commercial operations. We enjoy fabulous support from local businesses who work with us on their advertising and marketing campaigns, but the cost of providing high quality, well researched, fact checked local news coverage is significant.

If you appreciate what This is the Coast does, and would like to help support our journalism, please consider supporting us on a monthly basis today.

A small contribution from all our readers would really help support independent journalism for the Yorkshire Coast.

More from Top Stories

Follow Us

Get Our Apps

Our Apps are now available for iOS, Android and Smart Speakers.

  • Available on the App Store
  • Available on Google Play
  • Just ask Amazon Alexa
  • Available on Roku

Today's Weather

  • Scarborough

    Light rain

    High: 17°C | Low: 12°C

  • Filey

    Medium-level cloud

    High: 17°C | Low: 12°C

  • Whitby

    Light rain

    High: 17°C | Low: 12°C

  • Bridlington

    Medium-level cloud

    High: 18°C | Low: 12°C

  • Hornsea

    Medium-level cloud

    High: 18°C | Low: 12°C

  • Driffield

    Medium-level cloud

    High: 18°C | Low: 12°C

News