​Wales’ On Kilter festival cancels following police and local council licence intervention

Welsh festival On Kilter was cancelled shortly before it was scheduled to go ahead yesterday, July 13, after the local council and police revoked the event’s licence at a last-minute hearing.

The three-day event, which was due to go ahead over the weekend at a country house in Dolwen, Conwy, as it has the past two summers, was cancelled on Wednesday citing licence intervention.

“On Kilter has had its licence blocked by the Police & Conwy Council,” the festival shared on Instagram on Wednesday. “We understand how late it is in the day & how this will have disrupted people’s plans.”

“The reason for this is that we’ve been fighting a long and arduous case which ended in a 3-hour hearing last night,” On Kilter added.

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They explained that they faced representations from the police, the environmental health organisation, local businesses, and the press including ITV and the BBC, which resulted in the revoking of On Kilter’s licence.

Just ahead of the licence review, the BBC reported on the ‘rave’ stating that local residents and businesses were concerned about noise levels. North Wales Police were said to be dissatisfied with the festival’s ‘security, nuisance, and the protection of children’.

The previously licensed event has been running since 2021, welcoming hundreds of people annually to a site in rural Wales. This year, the three-day event was set to include Bluetoof, LUXE, Shannen SP, Pluralist, Korzi, and more across its line-up.

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“Despite bringing the best acousticians in the country to the table, the council has taken the view that this event cannot take place," they said. “It pains us to be sending this message, as we have put our whole hearts into the event."

Since the announcement of On Kilter’s cancellation, the festival has been offered a ticket-swap system by Field Maneuvers, a similarly intimate festival in Norfolk taking place next month.

“We aren’t able to offer this for all the tickets as there is a cap, so it’s going to be first come first serve,” On Kilter announced yesterday. “Those of you who have seen the line-up and know about FM will realise how kind an offer this is,” they said.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Assistant Editor, follow her on Twitter