Latitude Festival 2021 to go ahead in July with full capacity as a government test event

Organisers of Suffolk's Latitude Festival have confirmed it will go ahead next month with full capacity as part of the Government's next phase of test events.

That means that festival-goers will be welcome to attend the five-day event at Henham Park as long as they have a negative lateral flow test or proof of two vaccinations.

Last week, Latitude's founder and creator Melvin Benn said he was 'very confident' the festival, which will take place between Thursday, July 22 and to Monday, July 26, would go ahead following the Government's latest announcement on the Covid roadmap.

At that point, they announced that pop band Supergrass, indie folk project Villagers and comedian and ventriloquist Nina Conti were among the acts to be added to its line-up, which also includes headliners Wolf Alice, The Chemical Brothers, Bastille and Bombay Bicycle Club.

And today, a statement from Mr Benn said: "Dear Latitude Friends, we have been working extremely hard to make sure that Latitude Festival can go ahead safely at full capacity.

"After much discussion with the Government, I can now officially announce that we WILL be going ahead and that we will be joining the 3rd phase of the Event Research Programme as a test event!"

The festival's creator said becoming an ERP event gives them the 'security' of going ahead, and means that additional research collected at the event will 'benefit all festivals and live events moving forward'.

"After many months without live music and arts, we are ecstatic to return with a full capacity festival," he added.

"Restarting festivals is crucially important to the wellbeing of everyone in society and we hope that Latitude will be the first of many festivals to take place this summer!"

The Latitude team is now 'working closely' with the ERP experts, scientists and Stuart Keeble, Suffolk's public health director, on the 'specific conditions of entry that will enable the festival to operate safely'.

These details will be published on the Latitude website in due course.

"One thing we do know is that everyone will be welcome to attend as long as they have a negative lateral flow test OR proof of two vaccinations," Mr Benn added.

For more information, visit latitudefestival.com.

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