Organisers of Nottingham's Splendour Festival 'disappointed' after popular event cancelled

Wollaton Park in Nottingham is buzzing this weekend as the Splendour Festival is back for the first time in three years.
The festival typically features well-known and up-and-coming artists across five stages. Credit: ITV News Central

A popular Nottingham music festival will not go ahead this year after organisers ran out of time to plan the event.

The Splendour Festival is held every year in Wollaton Park in July, with well-known and up-and-coming artists performing across five stages during the two-day event.

Typically attracting crowds of up to 25,000 people, recent headliners included Madness and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.

The festival was cancelled for two years during the Covid pandemic, but returned to huge crowds in 2022.

Organisers 'DHP Family' blame delays from Nottingham City Council for the cancellation, stating: "Last May, Nottingham City Council initiated a festival tender process for Wollaton Park, which regrettably has encountered numerous delays from the council’s side.

"Delivering a high-profile event like Splendour requires more than a year’s worth of planning, and these delays mean we have not been left with enough time to put on the festival.

"We know many of you will be sad to hear this news, but rest assured, we are working hard to bring Splendour back to Nottingham in 2025."

In response, a Nottingham City Council spokesperson said: “Since its inception in 2008, the festival has grown to become one of the best-loved in the country. We, therefore, completely understand why people will be disappointed that it won’t take place in 2024.

“We said last year that under the council’s new commercial strategy, the event fell into a category where a formal tender process was needed. This was to protect the authority legally, financially and to ensure the festival was achieving best value for the council and the residents of Nottingham. 

“The procurement process is complex and has taken longer than we would have liked – this has made the viability of delivering a festival in 2024 very difficult."

The authority added that it remains optimistic that the festival will return in 2025.

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