Sales not enough for five-day extravaganza

A major five-day comedy and music festival on the King’s Sandringham Estate has been axed amid poor ticket sales.

Organisers HeritageLive say they cannot compete with bigger operators and said it would have been ‘irresponsible’ to go ahead without being sure they could pay their bills. 

Russell Howard, Russell Kane, Rory Bremner, Josh Widdicombe and Tom Allen topped the comedy bill, while music headliners were Janet Jackson, Lionel Richie, Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin, and Eric Clapton.

The company also planned music festivals at the Englefield Estate in Surrey and  the Audley End Estate and said it was ‘devastated’ and ‘heartbreaking’ that they had to cancel them all,

In a statement, they said: ‘We'd been working desperately hard behind the scenes to conclude an investment and equity package to ease the burden of an extraordinarily tough year, but this last beacon of hope has fallen through at the 11th hour, making it impossible to go ahead.

‘As one of the few remaining British independent promoters, it's become almost impossible to compete in what has become an increasingly saturated festival market.

‘The might of huge multi-nationals has had the adverse effect of driving up supplier, artist and staffing costs and whilst it's still just about manageable during a normal year, the cost- of-living crisis combined with general financial uncertainty, has resulted in several shows having far lower than average ticket sales, making it impossible to survive in such a competitive industry, with so many rising costs.

‘It would therefore be irresponsible and wrong of us to proceed without the certainty that we'd be able to meet all of our supplier, artist and crew costs.

‘The whole HeritageLive team is absolutely devastated. It would have been the most amazing summer with such an extraordinary array of supreme talent and we're all so very sorry to let everyone down.’

Ticket holders should get an automatic refund.

HeritageLive added: ‘Thank you so much to everyone who has supported and enjoyed our events over the past 10 years. Whilst this is devastating news, we hope that in time you're able to look back with fond memories to those happier days; we've had so many awesome and magical moments over the years and hope they remain in your hearts forever.’

The five-day Sandringham event was due to run from August 19, with day tickets priced  from £84.80 for Christina Aguilara on the Friday to £135 for Lionel Richie

Other comics due to play included Milton Jones, Sara Pascoe, Angela Barnes and more. Each day would also have seen a ‘comedy legend’ guest slot, featuring the well-established actsick Miller, Punt & Dennis, Jasper Carrott, Arthur Smith, and Bobby Davro.

Organiser Giles Cooper OBE is chairman of the Royal Variety Charity and produces the annual Royal Variety Performance.

Published: 13 Jul 2026