![Slam Dunk Festival South at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield. The festival will move to a new Hatfield location in 2018. [Picture: Alan Davies] <i>(Image: Archant)</i>](/resources/images/15679860.jpg?type=mds-article-962)
A major Hatfield music festival is moving venue next year – to a new site in the town.
The all-day Slam Dunk Festival will not take place at the University of Hertfordshire in 2018.
Festival bosses have decided to relocate to a new location at Hatfield House next year – with an increased capacity.
Organisers have this evening (Sunday) confirmed the venue switch via the festival’s Facebook and Twitter social media pages, with Slam Dunk South taking place for the first time in the grounds of Hatfield House on Sunday, May 27.
Slam Dunk has outgrown its former home at the University of Hertfordshire and moving to Hatfield House gives organisers the chance to double the festival’s size.
Festival director Ben Ray is delighted to have found an alternative site in the town.
He said: “Slam Dunk Festival South has been taking place in Hatfield since 2010 so the town has truly become our home.
“Therefore, I am extremely happy we managed to find a new site still within the town.
“We are sad to leave the University, however the event was selling out months in advance so we knew we had to move it and make it bigger due to demand from the fans.”
An afterparty will take place back across town at the university.
Slam Dunk’s website states: “The Slam Dunk South Afterparty will be held at University of Hertfordshire (the previous home of the festival, also known as Hatfield Forum).
“Buses will be laid on from the Hatfield House site to transport people to the Afterparty.
“Those attending the Afterparty will receive free parking at The Forum all day.”
The first Slam Dunk Festival 2018 line-up announcement is due to be made on Wednesday, November 15.
Hatfield House was previously home to underground electronic dance music extravaganza Eastern Electrics for three years from 2014 to 2016.
Like Slam Dunk, Eastern Electrics features multiple stages.
The main pedestrian entrance to Hatfield House is directly opposite the town’s railway station, which is particularly handy for festival-goers arriving by train.
There are direct trains from London King’s Cross to Hatfield that arrive at the doorstep of the festival in 22 minutes, and the site is still not far from the A1(M).
Vicky Nelson, events manager at the Hertfordshire stately home, said: “We’re delighted to be welcoming Slam Dunk to Hatfield House next year.
“Many people in the area will already be familiar with this hugely popular music festival and will be pleased to hear it is staying in Hatfield.”
The historic stately home already hosts the annual classical picnic concert Battle Proms and folk music festival Folk by the Oak.
The Welwyn Hatfield Times revealed in September that Classic Ibiza will also take place in the grounds of Hatfield House next year on Saturday, September 1.
And now touring pop punk, ska punk, emo, metal and alternative rock festival Slam Dunk will be pitching up in the Queen Elizabeth Oak Field in Hatfield Park on Sunday, May 27.
Slam Dunk South first took place at the University of Hertfordshire Students’ Union entertainment complex in College Lane, Hatfield, in 2010.
This year’s event, held on the Spring May Bank Holiday Monday, featured eight stages on The Forum Hertfordshire site, with St Albans band Enter Shikari headlining the main Jagermeister Stage on the uni’s Hutton Lawn.
A concert by The Specials, also organised by Slam Dunk promoters, took place at the same Hatfield venue the day before the touring festival.
Next year the University of Hertfordshire will stage an outdoor concert organised by Slam Dunk promoters featuring ska bands The Beat and The Selecter and punk favourites Stiff Little Fingers and Buzzcocks on Saturday, May 26.
Slam Dunk North 2018 will take place in Leeds city centre on Saturday, May 26.
Slam Dunk Midlands, which moved from Wolverhampton to Birmingham in 2016, will take place the day after the Hatfield show at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) on Monday, May 28.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here