The director of Leeds Festival has admitted security at last year’s event was ‘perhaps not good enough’. Melvyn Benn, from organisers Festival Republic, said while enough security staff had been employed and the event was “safe”, the “quality” of service provided needed to improve.
He told a group of Leeds councillors that standards across the security industry had fallen since the pandemic. The revelation came in a wide-ranging public discussion about last year’s Leeds Festival at the city council’s licensing committee on Tuesday.
The annual event sees tens of thousands of music-lovers flock to Bramham Park over the August bank holiday weekend. But asked by committee chair, Councillor James Gibson, if there had been enough security on site during the festival, Mr Benn replied: “There was enough. Was it good enough? Perhaps not. But that’s a different question.
