Banquet Records have announced that they are temporarily pausing sales to Ireland and mainland Europe due to the persistent uncertainty surrounding Brexit trading arrangements.

Negotiations between the UK and the European Union (EU) are still ongoing over a crucial trade deal, with just two weeks left before the Brexit transition period ends on January 1, 2021.

With the prospect of a No Deal Brexit still a distinct possibility, the prevailing sense of uncertainty over the future of UK and EU relations is already having a knock-on effect across the UK music industry. Warnings about the potentially “catastrophic” impact of a No Deal Brexit have been sounded recently as that outcome would, for example, very likely prevent thousands of British musicians from being able to afford to tour Europe next year.

“Our industry is reeling and in a dreadful state,” Annabella Coldrick, chief executive of the Music Manager’s Forum, told NME last month. “When we come into a post-COVID world, we don’t even know if we’ll be able to tour because it’s impossible to know what your costs will be, what the bureaucracy will be and what processes you’ll have to follow in each country, but we do know it will be a nightmare.”

The prospect of No Deal is also causing great uncertainty among UK record shops, with Kingston-based store Banquet Records announcing yesterday (December 16) that they’ve taken the decision to pause all orders to the EU from today (December 17) until the Brexit trading “situation is resolved”.

sorry to say we're temporarily pausing sales to Ireland and mainland Europe until future trading arrangements with the EU become clear. pic.twitter.com/y3DYWtPlPG

— Banquet Records (@BanquetRecords) December 16, 2020

“We’ll be pausing all EU orders from December 17 until the situation is resolved because of the uncertainty around Brexit and how it will affect our EU customers,” Banquet said in a statement.

“Thanks in advance for your patience while we work to find a solution to the difficult, avoidable position we’re in.”

Last month, the UK’s so-called “Festival of Brexit” was awarded £29 million in funding to help stage its planned event in 2022.