Latitude Festival has signed a new 20-year lease to remain at Henham Park in Suffolk until 2046.
Festival founder and managing director Melvin Benn announced the agreement with the Rous family, who own the Henham Park estate, during the closing day of Latitude’s 20th edition on Sunday (July 26).
“I have signed a new 20-year lease with the Rous family,” Benn told festival-goers. “Latitude will call Henham Park home until 2046. I could not be prouder to make that commitment, or to announce it in front of our audience on the festival’s 20th anniversary.”
He continued: “Henham Park is not just where Latitude happens. It is part of what Latitude is. The lake, the woods, the parkland. You cannot separate the festival from the place.”
“From our first year in 2006, when 4,500 people came through the gates, to this weekend’s celebrations, the estate has shaped everything we do.”
Benn said that the anniversary weekend was not solely intended as a retrospective, however, adding that Latitude would continue to prioritise emerging artists and new discoveries.
“This weekend was never about looking back,” he said. “Latitude has always been about what comes next. The new voices, the debut performances, the artists you discover in a tent in the woods and follow for the rest of your life.”
“That is the festival we have built, and that is the festival we will keep building. The next 20 years start now.”
Around 40,000 people attended this year’s edition, which was headlined by David Byrne, Teddy Swims and Lewis Capaldi. The line-up also featured The Flaming Lips, The Last Dinner Party, Wet Leg, Self Esteem, Tom Grennan, English Teacher, Billy Ocean, David Gray and Tom Odell.
Hektor Rous said the festival had played an important role in helping his family restore and maintain the estate.
“Latitude Festival has been an incredible and pivotal event for Henham Park and we couldn’t be more pleased to have agreed another 20 years with the brilliantly creative and passionate team at Festival Republic led by Melvin Benn,” he said.
“Latitude has very much enabled us to continue the restoration and care of Henham Park, which is not only my life’s work, but the work of generations before and after.”
Latitude will return to Henham Park from July 22 to 25, 2027. Anyone who has attended one of the festival’s previous 20 editions can currently register for a loyalty discount on 2027 weekend tickets.
Registration will close at 11:59pm on Sunday (August 2), before loyalty tickets go on sale at 10am on August 5. Early-bird tickets will follow at 10am on August 13. Find more information here.
In a review of Latitude’s 2023 edition, NME described it as “a firm institution in the British music calendar”.
It added: “Exploring the smaller stages proves that the future is set to be filled with challenging, inventive new voices that are determined to push music in excitingly strange new directions.”
