The longest running British music festival to end due to “economic challenges”
Towersey Festival, the longest running music festival in Britain, has announced it will end after one final party this summer due to growing financial pressures after 60 years.
Since the pandemic, festivals across Britain have been falling to the wayside at a rapid rate. According to a recent report issued by the Association of Independent Festivals, 42 festivals across the UK have been postponed, cancelled or closed in 2024 alone.
In addition to the pandemic wiping out the money which festivals held in reserve, the cost of living crisis has made it more costly to stage these events. Furthermore, potential attendees have also had their pockets squeezed by the current economic predicament that has led to less people being able to afford festivals.
Towersey is the latest festival that is no more, but if this current trend continues, many more will sadly follow in its footsteps. The annual event was founded by Denis Manners MBE in 1965, specialising in roots and folk music, it’s now ran by two of his grandchildren, Mary Hodson and Joe Heap, who have made the difficult decision to close Towersey.
In a statement, they devastatingly stated: “It is with the heaviest of hearts that we also deliver this message. Like so many other independent and grassroots festivals, Towersey is facing the very sad prospect of ending after this year’s festival, our 60th year.”
The co-director’s of the festival explained how they “worked incredibly hard” in recent years to return the event to “financial security” following the pandemic, but described the current “economic challenges” as “impossible”.
They added: “Without investment partnerships or a fundamental change to the character of the festival, we have concluded that we will have to bow out after this year.”
While they are “proud of what we’ve achieved with Towersey” and the help they’ve been able to provide to the local community and charities, they now plan to “find a way of continuing to realise the hopes and dreams of our grandparents and founders, but it will not be through Towersey Festival anymore.”
While Towersey is coming to an end, they plan to exit with a bang. This year, they will welcome artists such as Billy Bragg, The Staves and Seth Lakeman who will be commencing the Claydon Estate in Buckingham between August 23rd and August 26th.
Earlier this year, John Rostron, the CEO of the Association of Independent Festivals, shared his idea to stop more festivals from going under. He said: “We have done the research: a reduction of VAT to 5% on festival tickets over the next three years is a conservative, targeted and temporary measure that would save almost all of the festival businesses that are likely to fall by the wayside this year and many more over the years to come. We need this intervention now.”
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