Deer Shed Festival 2021 cancelled due to "lack of COVID cancellation insurance"

The 2021 edition of Deer Shed Festival was due to host performances from the likes of Ghostpoet, Cate Le Bon, Baxter Dury, Melt Yourself Down, Dream Wife, The Twilight Sad, Dry Cleaning and more, but today (21 April) organisers have announced the cancellation of this year's festival, citing a "lack of COVID cancellation insurance" as the main issue.

Deer Shed Festival's cancellation comes just one day after Boomtown Festival cancelled its 2021 festival for the same reason.

In a statement on the festival's site, the Deer Shed Festival organisers wrote, "Many things remain uncertain for festivals this summer, but the lack of COVID cancellation insurance is the one hurdle we have been unable to clear. Earlier in the year, we were hopeful a government backed COVID insurance scheme would be in place, but we now have no reason to believe it will be despite frantic industry lobbying."

"Deer Shed is still a 100% independent family owned and run festival, and the risks of running without insurance leave Kate and myself financially exposed well beyond our comfort zone."

The statement continued, "We will of course offer ticket refunds for Deer Shed 11 or rollovers to Deer Shed 12. We really appreciate those of you who will again be able to support us by rolling over your tickets to 2022."

Deer Shed did confirm that despite the bad news, they'll be hosting a safe family camping weekend in Baldersby Park called Base Camp Plus, which will take place from 30 July - 1 August.

Hi Deer Shedders, we have bad news. We've made the difficult decision to postpone Deer Shed until 2022 due to a lack of COVID cancellation insurance.

The good news is, we have a back-up plan for summer 2021. Full details & FAQs available here. #BaseCampPlus

— Deer Shed Festival (@DeerShed) April 21, 2021