Parties of visitors from cities twinned with Oxford are no longer being wined and dined at the Town Hall, because organisers cannot afford the catering charges.

In May 2006, Fosters Event Catering was awarded the contract to provide catering for events at the town hall, in St Aldate's.

But the Bristol firm was given exclusive rights to provide food for events held there and some community groups say they have found themselves priced out of the building as a result.

One is the Oxford International Links Committee, which organises events involving all the city's twin towns - Bonn in Germany; Leiden in the Netherlands; Perm in Russia; Leon in Nicaragua; and Grenoble in France.

John Chipperfield, chairman of the Oxford-Leiden link and assistant editor of the Oxford Mail, said: "In the past, we used to be able to do our own catering at the Town Hall, but now that's not permitted and we have to find alternative venues for hosting our events.

"The Town Hall is the best venue for hosting these visits, but we have limited funds.

"The new Labour administration at the city council has agreed to see if it can review the catering contract, to help twinning groups and other community organisations experiencing the same problem."

In March, a St Patrick's night fundraising event for all the twinning links was held at North Oxford Community Centre, instead of the Town Hall.

Bob Price, the new leader of the city council, said: "I think the Town Hall is underused at the moment and it's a shame if community organisations, particularly town twinning groups, are being put off by catering costs.

"At the moment, you can't bring your own booze and food and that was an arrangement organised by council officers.

"We have only just taken over the council, but we have promised the twinning organisation we will review this."

James Davidson, a spokesman for Fosters Events Catering, said: "We're happy to provide any menu for any budget and we're prepared to listen on this issue, although we have not been approached directly by the council over this.

"In lots of our venues, we're the sole contractor but we can provide a menu to match any palate or budget and we would enjoy an opportunity to cater for people from different parts of the world."

Mr Davidson added that Fosters staff might object to sharing a kitchen with community groups doing their own catering.

He said: "If this is a price issue, we're prepared to listen and we have been flexible in the past for tea dances, or for a student bar with a special licence requirement."

Town hall manager David Clark said each twinning link was allowed one free booking per year of the main hall or assembly rooms.

For any other event, they are also entitled to a 50 per cent discount on room fees.

He added: "Fosters do their best to be flexible and have quoted special rates to a number of organisations."