Mean Fiddler confident Leeds Festival will go ahead despite licence refusal

Although Mean Fiddler were refused a licence for the Leeds end of their Carling Weekender at the end of August, organisers have told nme.com that the event will go ahead. The Leeds venue is Temple Newsam Park. Last year's festival was marred by violence, with police in protective equipment required to control people throwing "stones and missiles" on the final night of the event. Trouble started after people in a festival campsite set fire to toilet blocks shortly after the end of the headline band at 11.30pm. Local pressure groups have been petitioning to block the festival – the Friends of Temple Newsam Park, residents and councillors have penned letters requesting the event be held in another location. Mean Fiddler’s Melvin Benn told NME that as soon as he received specific details of the local authority’s concerns his company would submit an appeal which he expected to win. "I've never failed to put a festival on in the past,” he said, “and I don't intend to start this year. If you have tickets, hold on to them, if you want to buy tickets, buy them. I'm 100% certain that the Leeds festival will take place this year. It's a great bill and a fantastic weekend. As ever the young people of Great Britain are having to stand up and prove themselves against adversity." The Leeds weekend, from August 23-25, is set to see a headline appearance from Guns 'N Roses, who are not scheduled to appear at the Reading end, with The Prodigy also billed.