Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Latitude organisers ‘haven’t given up hope’ of festival going ahead three days after lockdown is due to lift

latitude festival
Latitude organisers are hopeful this year’s show will be able to go ahead (Picture: Ben Gibson)

Organisers of Latitude Festival have revealed they are still hopeful that the event will go ahead, beginning three days after lockdown is due to lift in the UK.

It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson delayed the total lifting of restrictions for four weeks, from June 21 until July 19 following an increase in coronavirus cases, largely due to the Delta variant, first identified in India.

The extended restrictions mean the lifting on capacity caps for events including festivals will not happen before July 19 at the earliest, and may be pushed back further if the data shows it is necessary.

Many festivals are in their second year of delays or cancellations, but Latitude remains hopeful that it may be able to go ahead on July 22 – 25.

Organisers released a statement reading: ‘We’ve been eagerly awaiting the Prime Minister’s statement as much as anyone else this evening, and, whilst the lifting of the final restrictions is delayed, we don’t think it means the end of our hopes for Latitude this year.’

They added that ‘whilst this evening’s statement is disappointing, we haven’t given up hope just yet.

Latitude organisers 'haven't given up hope' of festival going ahead three days after lockdown is due to lift
Latitude is due to happen just three days after final restrictions are planned to be lifted (Picture: Latitude/Facebook)
Latitude festival
Freedom Day will mean the end of capacity caps on festivals, but it had to be pushed back from June 21 until July 19 at the earliest (Picture: Sarah Koury / Entirety Labs)

‘If you’ll allow us just a little more time, we’re going to spend the next few days looking at the information and speaking to the relevant government departments to work out what it means for the festival.

‘Rest assured, as soon as we know for definite if we can or can’t go ahead, we will tell you. We expect that will be by the end of the week.’

The statement added that the safety of festival-goers, staff and artists remained their priority and if the festival is not able to go ahead as planned, ticketholders would be entitled to a refund or to roll their tickets over to next year’s event instead.

Other events including Henley Festival’s Summer Fling from July 8-10 have had to be cancelled, while some – including Heritage Live – have been pushed back to later in the summer instead.

Metro.co.uk has reached out to Latitude Festival for more information.

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