Christopher BarrettPromoters of the 15,000-capacity MiNT Festival have spent £5m on a new location for the event at Newsam Green Farm near Leeds, with the aim of creating a purpose-built festival site.
The one-day electronic music event will now take place at the new 136-acre location on 25 September.
The team behind the festival, who also promote MiNT Warehouse (cap. 1,000) in Leeds, said the new permanent festival site offers a naturalistic setting with barns, forests and orchards, only 10 minutes from Leeds city centre.
Launched 10 years ago, MiNT Festival has previous been staged at a range of venues including Wetherby Racecourse, Tetley Brewery, Stockeld Park and more recently The RAF base & Leeds East Airport in Church Fenton.
Festival founder Shane Graham said the acquisition was the result of a three-year search for the right site: “We are extremely happy to have acquired the farm; not only is it 10 minutes out of the city centre, but it also boasts acres of greenery, woodland and amazing views that make the perfect background for a music festival.”
Co-owner Baz Arjomand said, “Our long-term vison for the farm is to continue to develop the concept whist trying to maintain as many of the original natural features on the site as possible. The bricked garden orchard will be home to one of the arenas and we plan to incorporate some of the outbuildings into our VIP and food villages. By purchasing our own venue, it allows us to invest in the long-term infra-structure, providing purpose-built arenas with incomparable sound quality – something that the MiNT brand prides it’s self on”.
The promoters said that all but a couple of thousand tickets for MiNT Festival have been sold, and they expect to sell out following the forthcoming line-up announcement.