Promoters Festival Republic have applied for licensing changes which would allow Reading Festival to extend amplified live music and alcohol sales for a new four-day format. Currently, despite opening the campsite from a Wednesday, the event is only permitted to host live acts between the Friday and Sunday of its August bank holiday window.
Reading Festival and its sister-promotion Leeds Festival are two of the most popular British summer festivals, closing out August with a diverse musical line-up shared between both events. While the southern side at Richfield Avenue in Reading is more popular than its northern counterpart, typically drawing over 100,000 attendants each year, Leeds has something Reading doesn’t – licensing permission to field a Thursday of music, this year headlined by Leicester indie rockers Kasabian. Due to Reading’s more-restrictive license, Kasabian are not booked to perform as it stands, and there is no similar entertainment as the festival arena site will be closed.
Festival Republic, who have run the pair of events since 1998, have applied to Reading Borough Council for licensing changes which would allow amplified music at the site’s main stage only, between 5pm and midnight on the Thursday of the festival period. In addition, they have requested an extension to the hours that alcohol can be sold across the event. Any changes in the license would not be applied to this year’s edition, and would come into effect from 2027 at the earliest.
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This year’s line-up at Reading and Leeds is dominated by home-grown talent, with a spread of 6 headliners across its 3 nights of music. For Reading specifically, the Friday evening kicks off with drum and bass cult heroes Chase & Status and pop mega-star Charli XCX; Saturday plays host to festival favourite rapper Dave and indie rock past headliners Florence + The Machine; before Sunday closes out with Irish rock outfit Fontaines D.C. and chart-topping soulful singer Raye. Further down the bill we find Gunna, Skepta, Sombr, Loyle Carner and Role Model.
Reading and Leeds 2026 run from August 27 to 30, at Reading’s Richfield Avenue and Leeds’ Bramham Park, with select tickets still available.
