Stallholders Hamed Ahmahoun and Mohamad Ahmed

A LAST-minute deal saved a major Islamic celebration in Marble Arch last night (Thursday) – enabling film crews from around the world to cover a visit by the Archbishop of Canterbury which was hours away from cancellation.
Dr Rowan Williams was visiting the Ramadan Marquee but today (Friday) it faces closure unless organisers can stump up the £46,000 it owes to its marquee supplier.
Westminster’s first official Ramadan Marquee only opened last Wednesday and is supposed to run for another three weeks.
But marquee hire company, De Bou, has told organisers Master Events and the Egyptian Association UK that the tent housing the celebrations will be taken back if they do not pay their outstanding bill.
The festival’s committee has so far paid £29,000 of the total cost of £75,000 for the marquee.
Frantic organisers faced the possibility of turning away high profile guests invited to a special celebration, including the Archbishop when the hire company threatened to remove the marquee immediately. But as a last minute deal a payment of £6,000 was made to De Bou who agreed to allow the marquee to stay put for one more night.
Discussions over the future of the festival are believed to be taking place today (Friday).
Mostafa Ragab of the Egyptian Association UK described it as a near disaster and said the future of the festival remained “under threat”.
He said: “It is true that we are in difficulty and are unable to cover costs,” he said. “We are struggling to make payments to the marquee company who have insisted on every penny in advance. They are being quite firm on that.”
London Assembly member and Westminster councillor Murad Qureshi expressed sympathy for the financial problems but said he was not surprised that high running costs resulting from collaborations with private businesses had got in the way. He said: “It doesn’t surprise me at all considering the hurdles, costs and obstacles it’s facing. It is my understanding that something like this in Egypt would be free. It is as soon as people start charging for licences that they had to do things on a commercial footing.
“I am in full support of this, but it is amazing how quickly people in the commercial world want to get their bills paid.”
The director of De Bou refused to comment on the deal with Master Events and the Egyptian Association UK.
But Mr Ragab explained that Master Events were having problems recuperating costs in advance from other parties involved in the festival, including stallholders and this had led to a knock-on effect with payments to De Bou.
He said: “The total cost of the festival is £250,000 but we have managed to cover all our other costs. They are threatening to remove it but we are trying our best to sort it out.”
Mr Qureshi added: “I think they faced more bureaucracy than they envisaged. But it would be a terrible shame if it were to go under at the first attempt. It is in the right place, time and concept.”