El Dorado music festival cancelled due to rising costs

A summer music festival has been cancelled because of “a dramatic rise” in the cost of putting it on, organisers say.

The El Dorado festival was due to take place at Eastnor Castle Deer Park, in Herefordshire, from 11 to 14 July.

The organisers said they were “heartbroken” about calling it off, but to go ahead risked them making “catastrophic losses”.

They added that festival-goers’ tickets would be refunded and they hoped the event would return in 2025.

The El Dorado festival was founded in 2016 and this year’s line-up included the disco group Boney M, the grime MC Flowdan, and the DJ and producer Eliza Rose.

In a statement posted online on Monday night, the festival’s team said they had “battled with a dramatic rise in operational costs” over the past year.

The number of UK music festivals dropped from 600 in 2019 to fewer than 500 in 2023, according to a report last year by the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF).

The AIF said the Covid pandemic and rising production costs were amongst the reasons for festivals cancelling events or closing down altogether.

El Dorado bosses said this year’s weekend camping tickets, day tickets, big green coach passes, and boutique packages would be refunded automatically.

Car park passes, shuttle bus passes, and live-in vehicle passes would be refunded by the end of July as they would take longer to process.