We were rather excited when we heard the news that a new festival, Hudbu, was heading to Wirral’s leafy Memorial Fields at Clatterbridge. Not only was the lineup nearly as strong and interesting as any uber-cool one you’d find in Barcelona or Berlin, but it filled an interesting gap between the likes of Sound City, Music Week and Creamfields.

Today it’s been announced that due to some unforseen location problems, it’s had to be pulled. An official statement reads:

“With just short of 80 days left to go until the unveiling of what promised to be a truly spectacular event to hit the shores of the Wirral, organisers are extremely sorry to announce that the show is off this year for reasons out of their control…

September 23rd - 25th was set to be the new “must do” date in every festival goers diary, and with the huge support we received it seemed almost too good to be true… That was until last Wednesday where unfortunately we were thrown into the middle of a land nightmare.

Central to our field party was 23 acres of pristine, top grade turf, the true holy grail for any festival, with great drainage and versatility it was set to be the perfect mud-free pitch and was the heart of our 90 acre weekend plan. This was until last week, unfortunately another event happened between a final meeting with us and the day we were told the land was unsuitable to use for the foreseeable future.

We manned the phones to seek & search out a new suitable party place, but being September and prime wedding season we where unfortunately pitted to the post at alot of our preferred sites… That was until we found a fantastic spot, where we believe our event could thrive and develop free of previous ties and issues, and this is where we are now looking to move to in the future.

However this will take time to re-plan, re-think and re-develop, so instead of rushing things and doing things by halves we’ve made the difficult decision to hold off this year and go away and plan an even better event for next summer.”

It’s a real shame, but we’re excited to hear the organisers are planning something rather special for next year. Done well, and with the right lineup, Hudbu could be one of the region’s most eclectic and exciting outdoor festivals. Hopefully, we’ll get to see it next year.

Visit Hudbu’s official site for refund information.