FOUR huge festivals are in the pipeline for Reading’s Palmer Park next summer.
Events company T&M Leisure puts on a large number of events in the town and now the company’s CEO has revealed his plan for several events that will all be coming up in June next year.
Plans include a boxing event for students at the University of Reading, the performance of Ibiza anthems with a twist, a bigger-than-ever dance music one-dayer, and a concert with some of the most well-known 90s boy bands.
T&M Leisure CEO Toby Mullins said: “The student boxing has been in place there for the last two years, and are held at various council-run venues, we had one at the Best Parties Ever site in Kings Meadow as well.
“The boxing event will be happening on a Thursday, on the Friday there will be the Ibiza Summertime live orchestra, Stories in the Park on Saturday and a boy bands event on the Sunday.”
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T&M Leisure is also behind the project to convert the old Evening Post printworks in Tessa Road into a food and music venue.
You can see the events by day below:
- Thursday, June 13, 2024 – Student boxing event
- Friday, June 14, 2024 – Ibiza Summertime Live Orchestra
- Saturday, June 15, 2024 – Stories in the Park dance music event
- Sunday, June 16, 2024 – Blue, Scouting for Girls, and Boyzlife
The Stories in the Park events have been held in Reading for four years attracting thousands of young festival-goers.
Initially set up as a small day party for university students, the events got so much interest that they were moved to Palmer Park, with huge music acts such as Chase & Status, Andy C and Sub Focus gracing the stage in the past.
Mr Mullins said: “We’re doubling the size of the site. It will go from one big top to two big tops, allowing us to double capacity.”
Meanwhile, the event on Sunday will be held by Legacy Live Events and features Boyzlife, a supergroup made up of members of Boyzone and West Life.
As for the boxing events, Mr Mullins said: “It’s an amazing opportunity for students to participate. They train over eight weeks, then there’s the main event.”
For all of these events to go ahead as planned, T&M Leisure must obtain licensing consent from Reading Borough Council.
In full, the organisers have applied to hold the student boxing from 12pm to 10.30pm on the Thursday, and provide regulated entertainment and sell alcohol from 12pm to 10pm on each day of the music events.
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These activities would take place on eight calendar days in the year.
Mr Mullins explained: “We’ve already had consents in previous years for the activities applied for.
“The application allows us to increase the capacity from 5,000 to 9,999.”
You can comment on the licensing application for the events by emailing licensing@reading.gov.uk.
The deadline for representations is Wednesday, January 3, 2024.
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