03 Jun 2016
Glastonbury founder confirms further talks with Longleat over 2018 Festival
BY Tom Anstey
Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis has confirmed further talks with Longleat Safari and Adventure Park about hosting the world-famous music festival in 2018.
After Attractions Management exclusively reported in April that Eavis and Longleat had entered discussions, the Glastonbury founder told ITV West Country that he'd like to see the music festival at Longleat within the next two or three years.
Eavis has been looking for potential sites to hold the event during the fallow year – one year in five when the festival does not take place to give the farmland (and local community) a chance to recover.
Calling Longleat "the best site in the whole of England,” Eavis said he was talking to the park every day. “I hope we can come to an agreement with them eventually. But we haven't done so yet,” he added.
Speaking to Attractions Management in April, Longleat CEO Bob Montgomery said that Eavis was “thinking of 2018, so we do have some time to at least look at it, but it’s very, very speculative.”
“We have sold all 15,000 tickets for an Elton John concert, but there’s a big difference between doing this and doing a music festival,” he added. “It’s a step for us to see if we can do a show like that once or twice a year, and if we can that’ll maybe open up some other options for us.”
Longleat is currently celebrating its 50-year anniversary with a number of special events, and is also working with Forrec on a 10-year masterplan that will redevelop the attraction to increase capacity and help it diversify its offer in the future. Longleat currently attracts 950,000 visitors per year.
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