ANOTHER Herefordshire festival has been forced to cancel due to the coronavirus pandemic as Lakefest at Eastnor Castle says it would not be safe to go ahead with the event.

Lakefest, which was due to be headlined this year by Seasick Steve and Sugarhill Gang, follows Nozstock: The Hidden Valley and Linton Festival in pulling their 2020 events.

Due to be held August 13 to August 16, organisers said it would be unsafe to go ahead with Lakefest but they promise 2021 will be even better and have already added Razorlight to the lineup.

"As a grassroots independent festival we say this with great sadness but it has become clear from talking with local authorities and monitoring the global crisis caused by Covid-19 that it would be unsafe for us to deliver Lakefest in August," organisers said in a statement.

"The health and wellbeing of the Lakefest family including customers, staff, vendors and the local community is our utmost priority and it would be irresponsible of us to go against advice and wider trends in the events industry.

"However it’s not all bad news, when the gravity of this situation was apparent we set in motion our plan B which was to postpone until next year with an improved line up and entertainment.

"After a lot of hard work we are excited to announce that Lakefest 2021 will take place on the August 12 to August 15."

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"We have been working closely with Eastnor Castle and all the artists and performers booked for August and are pleased to say that we can reschedule for August 12, 2021 to August 15, 2021.

"We have a few changes in the line up with the exciting additions of Razorlight, The Magic Numbers, and New Model Army joining us next year with another huge headliner soon to be announced.

"As you can imagine the crisis has had a big impact on the music industry and unfortunately Gentleman’s Dub Club, The Boomtown Rats and Starsailor cannot do the dates for us next year."

Anyone with tickets booked for the 2020 festival can roll their ticket over to next year's event, or request a refund.

For more details, visit Lakefest's website here.