Disgusted in Tunbridge Wells! Spa town hosts ‘kinky’ festival

IT’S known as a traditional kind of place where, if all the tales are true, the locals can be somewhat easily offended.

But now the residents of Tunbridge Wells really do have something to get disgusted about – there’s going to be a kinky sex festival on the edge of the royal spa town.

More than 500 revellers are expected to ‘explore pain, experience pleasure and fulfil their fantasies’. It seems fair to say not many will be locals, who are deeply opposed to the three-day event.

Organisers of Flamefest are setting up their tents Brokes Wood on the outskirts of the Kent town. A website for the event, which features an outdoor S&M dungeon, declares: ‘Get back to nature and rediscover your wild side with DJs, live music, extreme performances, movie nights, daytime workshops, ridiculous games, and steamy outdoor hot tubs.’

Other planned events include ‘kink education sessions’ and a ‘supervised adult play area’, which organisers say is ‘where there are sure to be a few exhibitionists eager to show off their talents’.

But residents – who only learned of the festival this week – are up in arms. Dianne Hill, who sits on Tunbridge Wells council, said she had received many complaints.

‘I’m no prude but this is the wrong place for this sort of thing,’ she said. ‘It’s a residential area.’

Local resident Chris Herbert said: ‘Tunbridge Wells is not the place for a sex festival – we don’t want a bunch of perverts descending on our town.’

Another, Dave Peters, 42, said: ‘This is not the kind of thing we want going on here. It’s going to create hell on the roads as the woods can only be got to along a single track road.’ One resident wrote online that ‘if people want to be “one with nature” then surely nature hikes, badger watching, pond dipping [or] bird spotting…are best.’

Workshops due to run throughout the event from today include ‘ Introduction to dungeon etiquette’, ‘spanking’, ‘erotic writing’, ‘kinky clowning’ and ‘foot wor- ship’. The website promotion also boasts that ‘award-winning pornstar Zara DuRose’ will present ‘the fetish play area rules’ and ‘give an insight into the porn industry’.

Festival organiser Helen Smedley, said it was a ‘ private event’ and that the public would not witness ‘outdoor sex’. She added: ‘People go off to their tents to meet like-minded people.’

Flamefest organisers are believed to have obtained a temporary licence, meaning they do not need approval from the council’s licensing committee. Those attending are charged £110 or £300 for a ‘luxury boutique tent’.

The BBC radio show MuchBinding-in-the-Marsh, first broadcast in 1944, is often said to have popularised the term ‘Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells’ for outraged correspondents to newspapers.

‘People go off to their tents’