Devastating news for thousands of festival goers, who earlier today were told that Houghton Festival would be cancelled. The Festival due to start today, faced severe weather warnings issued by the Met Office over forecasted 60 MPH winds, thunderstorms and heavy rains in Norfolk. 

Festival organisers announced the cancellation today in a statement on Facebook. “Tragically, following this morning’s reports and further consultation with authorities, health and safety and all the festival directors, the decision has been made to cancel Houghton 2019,” they wrote. “Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers, staff and performers, which would be compromised if we were to go ahead.” They closed: “Please do not turn up on site today, and pass this message onto anyone else you know who may be leaving for the event today.” 

Houghton was scheduled to start tonight, August 8th, and run through early Monday morning, the 12th, at Houghton Hall. The impressive lineup featured the likes of Ricardo Villalobos, Four Tet, Shanti Celeste, Derrick Carter, Maayan Nidam, Ben UFO, object blue, Tama Sumo, Hunee, dBridge, Powder, Vladimir Ivkovic and many more. 

Read the full statement. 

Over night, weather conditions on-site at Houghton Festival have dramatically worsened and are set to deteriorate further into the weekend. 

Tragically, following this morning’s reports and further consultation with authorities, health and safety and all the festival directors, the decision has been made to cancel Houghton 2019. 

We are utterly devastated. All the hard work, love and creativity that has gone into planning and producing this year’s event made this an almost impossible decision to make. 

This was set to be a wonderful weekend and the boldest step we have ever taken as a festival. However, nothing is more important than the safety of our customers, staff and performers, which would be compromised if we were to go ahead. 

Clearly this will cause a lot of disruption and a lot of questions. However for now we can confirm the following: 

– Houghton Festival 2019 cannot go ahead. 
– Please do not travel to the show. 
– Information regarding refunds will be available later today. 
– Please do not request refunds until we have confirmed the process. 

Please understand that this decision has been made with the deepest of consideration. 

Craig Richards, Tom Elkington, Tom Carpenter, Digby Neill (Houghton Directors)