A volunteer has shared footage of the shocking state Bramham Park was left in by Leeds Festival-goers - despite organisers repeatedly encouraging people to respect the festival site.
The video shared on Twitter this afternoon, and now seen by more than three million people, shows field after field dotted with abandoned tents.
The footage also shows litter strewn all over the grass - often within the same frame as large bins left by festival organisers for people to use.
Of course, it's not out of the ordinary for festival sites to look a little worse-for-wear after so much activity (and Leeds Festival was a hive of live music over the bank holiday weekend). But volunteer Jack Lowe described it as 'littering on the grandest scale we’ve ever witnessed'.
He was there as part of a team from a charity who salvage camping equipment that's still in good condition, which is used to provide emergency shelter to refugees in France.
Jack posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: "It's going to take us a while to digest what we saw when we went to help salvage tents and equipment for a refugee charity at the end of Leeds Festival yesterday.
"This is just a fraction of it — littering on the grandest scale we’ve ever witnessed.
He added that there were 'thousands and thousands of tents and related equipment' left at Leeds Festival.
People have been blasting those who so carelessly and thoughtlessly left their possessions behind, despite the efforts of festival organisers to prevent scenes like those seen this week.
Leeds Festival installed recycling points and issued advice ahead of the festival (which was repeatedly pushed through the app to those on site). They said: "Did you know that the amount of plastic in a single tent is the equivalent of 8,750 plastic straws, or 250 pint cups? Say no to single use, take your tent home!
"Buy a durable tent that you can use again each year, it will save you money in the long run."
Jack also added: "It’s hard to convey the sheer scale of this. There are thousands of tents and associated paraphernalia.
A video shared by a volunteer shows the volume of tents and litter left behind at Leeds Festival. Credit: Twitter/X, Jack Lowe
"I’d say the volunteers manage to dismantle less than 1% of them.
"Many are damaged (some purposefully). Most will be scraped up and put into landfill."
Speaking at Leeds Festival on Saturday, Melvin Benn of Festival Republic told ITV News: "The message to festival goers all of the time is to try and look after the environment really.
"We work really hard on making sure that people recycle and take their belongings home with them.
"Most people do, some people don't. Some people are untidy and we have to tidy up after them."
Veteran British musician Morrissey has just announced a very limited run of tour dates across the UK, including one right here in Leeds.
He's also overlooked one very obvious location...
The iconic singer-songwriter, legendary lyricist and former Smiths frontman is a controversial one these days, but he still has a fervent following of die-hards.
With that in mind, despite some recent cancellations, Morrissey will be coming to just a handful of British cities later this year.
🚨NEW SHOW ALERT!
Live In Concert, Morrissey is bringing his tour to Leeds! 📆Saturday, 19th December 2026
🎫Venue Presale - Wed 20th May, 2026 🎟️General On Sale - Friday 22 may, 2026
Selecting just five cities to play in winter 2026, these latest live shows will be in support of his most recent record, Make-Up Is a Lie.
The 14th studio LP of his solo career, the reviews have been almost as divisive as the man himself, but his most passionate fans have praised it as one of his best.
Have you listened to it yet?
Most notably on this tour, however, the Greater Manchester-born artist has chosen to skip performing in his home city for some reason.
He did make his Co-op Live debut last June, but this time, his only Northern gigs in England are the first direct arena and a night in Liverpool.
We'd be foolish if we didn't mention that 'Moz' caused a bit of a stir by scrapping some slots earlier this year simply due to 'tiredness' - hence memes like this:
The other dates include Cardiff, Brighton and Glasgow, following his sold-out stadium show at The O2 in London this past February, with tickets going on sale next week.
If you're confident of him turning up to Yorkshire on time for his set in December, you can sign up for venue presale from next Wednesday, 20 May, with general admission going live at 9am the following Friday (22 May).
Featured Images – Publicity pictures (supplied via SJM Concerts)
Audio
South Yorkshire music festival cancelled after issuing stark warning to fans
Clementine Hall
An independent music festival in South Yorkshire has been forced to cancel.
It's official, music festival season is on the horizon and it's getting us very excited to be stood in a field with a pint of cider in our grasp.
But unfortunately, that won't be the case for those looking to attend Reytfest - an independent music festival 'run my music fans by music fans'.
Set to take place at the end of June, the festival announced on Tuesday 12 May that they have had to cancel the event due to 'the cost of living crisis'.
Posting the news to Instagram, Reytfest said: "We have had to make the heartbreaking decision to not go ahead with the REYT FEST event this June. This is due primarily to poor ticket sales which we can only attribute to the cost of living crisis.
"We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the festival, from the bands, vendors, stakeholders, suppliers and all other interested parties. We’d also like to thank you, our followers, liking and sharing our posts really built our fanbase, but especially to those of you who purchased tickets.
"Rest assured your ticket money will be refunded and please don’t get disheartened by this news, keep on booking live events whether its grassroots music in a local bar to big band stadium events or something completely different such as theatres, cinema, sports, etc, if people don’t buy tickets, they will disappear.
"We had a dream that unfortunately we can’t see through to fruition on this occasion, but we’ve learnt so much and we don’t want to throw all that knowledge and experience away, so when the time is right - watch this space!! Thank you - Jon (Brad), Ian, Jess and the rest of the REYT FEST Team."
Daisy Jackson -
29th August 2023 
