MANAGERS at Castle Howard are seeking talks with the promoter of a major open-air concert event following complaints from disappointed music fans.

Duncan Peake, estate manager, said his office had received a number of complaints about Saturday's Last Night of the Proms, mainly about it ending early.

The event, by CSS Stellar Entertainment Ltd, featured the Royal Philharmonic Pops Orchestra conducted by Carl Davis, and was advertised as "an open air picnic concert with a stunning firework finale".

But music lover Ian Helliwell, of The Beeches, Pocklington, who went to the concert in a party of 12 including friends who had travelled specially from Sheffield, said: "It was without doubt the worst Proms concert I and my friends have ever seen.

"The whole evening was a shambles from start to finish, from not having our pre-booked tickets ready for us, to an appalling PA system - presumably a carry over from Bryan Ferry - to a finale that didn't really happen."

Event promoter David Heartfield said the PA system was a state-of-the-art one which prompted no complaints from the larger audience for the Bryan Ferry concert the night before. But they had some comments during the Proms from people who were sitting at the back of the grounds and did not want to move.

He accepted the concert finished early, but said that was because they had allowed for delays at the start and interval which did not happen, and the orchestra, which played a full programme with three encores, got through its programme quicker than estimated.