A WEDDING venue has been forced into an embarrassing U-turn after fierce criticism that new charges were "pure greed".
Curradine Barns, one of the county's major wedding venues, recently sent out a letter informing businesses there was now a special list of suppliers, such as photographers and florists, who would have to pay 10 per cent of their fee to the venue.
In exchange the 19th century wedding venue said it would  encourage couples to use these suppliers and offer other benefits, including "flexible set up and breakdown times".
However, couples booking suppliers not on the list would be charged  a £150 administration fee for each supplier.
After hearing of the news Brett Sirrell, a magician who runs Amazing Magic and who has worked at the venue, told the Worcester News: "In 25 years in the industry, in all the venues I have worked at, I have never heard of anything like this before.
"After the pandemic suppliers and venues have been working together, sticking together to support each other.
"If every venue brought this in it would just destroy the industry, particularly for people like myself. 
"It is wrong, it is greed."
Cotswold photographer Jessica Raphael said: "I am completely shocked and appalled.
"I have worked at Curradine Barns numerous times - this will not work. I will be refusing to work at Curradine Barns from now on, and advising couples in another direction."
Furious suppliers also flooded posts on Curradine Barns Facebook page, to hit out at the charges.
Faye Dopson summed up the view of many writing: "I am so disappointed in this company. There are plenty of well managed, professional, supportive wedding venues that I will recommend my couples too. Greed is lack of ones confidence of ones own ability to create."
But yesterday morning the Shrawley venue, which charges up to £6,380 to hire, apologised in a post announcing it had scrapped the charges that had been set to be introduced in January. 
In the post Curradine Barns said: "Sorry, we got this one wrong.
"Curradine Barns maintains extremely high standards right across the venue, catering and suppliers. 
"The cost of doing so is very considerable, and there is significant investment into the ongoing development of the venue to make it an even better place to hold a wedding and for suppliers to operate.
"The idea was to form closer relationships with the best suppliers, who would make a contribution towards these costs, whilst we would offer significant benefits in return, such as free marketing, flexible arrangements, and on-site storage. 
"Ultimately, we wanted to offer the best service to couples without any increase in cost to them.
"Under the proposal, no charges were to be raised to suppliers for any existing venue bookings or new bookings in 2021, only for new bookings from 2022 onwards.
"We thought this was a good idea and we thought the charges were fair and commercial. However, it’s clear we were wrong.
"We have therefore taken the decision to scrap the proposed supplier charges. 
"We are sorry for any concern this has caused and hope that we can continue to work positively together moving forward and welcome the best suppliers to continue to offer their services at Curradine Barns."