The encyclopedia · Finance & Accounting · Financial decision · 2004–2018
Bestival invented the boutique festival — creditors bought the name for £1.1M
Rob and Josie da Bank's Bestival ran from 2004 to 2018; in September 2018 creditors forced it into administration and bought the brand for £1.1M.
Bestival · Bestival Group · 2018-09
What happened
Bestival was first staged on the Isle of Wight in 2004, created by DJ Rob da Bank and his wife Josie: a boutique camping festival built on fancy dress and eclectic line-ups that helped define the UK's boutique-festival wave. It ran there for thirteen summers before moving to the Lulworth Estate in Dorset in 2017.
The festival's costs outran its receipts. An unpaid £141,176 policing invoice covering the 2018 editions of Bestival and its family spin-off Camp Bestival sat with Dorset Police, and in September 2018 creditors forced Bestival Group, Bestival Ltd and Camp Bestival into administration.
Creditor Richmond Group bought the brand and assets for £1.1 million, with Live Nation subsequently taking over the stake. In March 2019 Dorset Police revealed the new owners had 'no plans' to run Bestival that year — the festival was gone. Camp Bestival survived: the da Banks returned to run it with Live Nation Gaiety and promoter SJM.
Why it happened
- Festival fixed costs — policing, infrastructure, site fees — climbed while revenue stalled; the £141,176 policing bill went unpaid.
- An independent without a major promoter's backing faced a market consolidating around giants like Live Nation.
- The 2017 move to the mainland changed the venue but not the economics; administration followed a year later.
The lesson
A festival can invent a format and still die of its costs: Bestival ran fifteen editions, then creditors bought the name for £1.1M — £141,176 of policing alone went unpaid.
Aftermath
Camp Bestival continues under the da Banks with Live Nation Gaiety. The Bestival name has not been used for a festival since 2018.
Sources
- BBC News, 19 October 2018 — Camp Bestival founders 'back in control' after administration (notices of intent to appoint administrators filed against Bestival Group, Bestival Ltd and Camp Bestival; creditors forced administration in September 2018; administrator Begbies Traynor sold brand and assets to creditor Richmond Group for £1.1m; Live Nation understood to have taken over the stake; founders Rob and Josie da Bank back in control of Camp Bestival with Live Nation Gaiety and SJM; Bestival had moved from the Isle of Wight to the Lulworth Estate)
- NME, March 2019 — Rob da Bank responds to reports Bestival 2019 won't go ahead (Dorset Police: 'new event owners' said there were 'no plans' to hold Bestival in 2019; outstanding £141,176 invoice for 2018 policing of Camp Bestival and Bestival; administrators appointed to Bestival Group, Bestival Ltd and Camp Bestival in September 2018; festival first held 2004 on the Isle of Wight, moved to the Lulworth Estate in 2017)
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