Fields Filled With Camping Equipment And Rubbish Following Reading And Leeds Festival

Fields were left filled with camping equipment and rubbish following the conclusion of Reading and Leeds Festival. Watch here:

Tens of thousands flocked to the sites over the bank holiday weekend for the eagerly anticipated festival, which featured performances from the likes of Liam Gallagher, Stormzy and Post Malone.

But while the majority will have left with treasured memories and sore heads, many attendees left behind a right mess.

Photos and videos from the sites show fields littered with tents, cans and general crap.

One security worker told Berkshire Live: "You don't even want to know what I've seen.

"We've had soiled underwear - always women's underwear weirdly, never men's - and condoms, used and unused."

The Big Ladder Photographer

Lily Robbins, the festival's sustainability manager, told the BBC that clearing up 'always takes time, because we want to do it properly'.

She said: "We have loads of different teams working together this year to actually get the site back to what it was looking like before we arrived."

She added that while some of the discarded tents will be taken by charities, most will undergo an 'incredibly lengthy' recycling process.

"Unfortunately, tents are one of the worst things to try and recycle," she said.

Melvin Benn, managing director of the Festival Republic - which runs Reading and Leeds Festival - previously told the PA new agency his aim had been to offer younger people a chance to live 'freely' for a weekend and not think about Covid-19.

The Big Ladder Photographer

He said: "Just walking out in the arena today in Reading and earlier this evening in Leeds, I think what the really interesting thing about it is, is that they come into an environment where they actually just don't have to think about Covid.

"And actually it is one of the things I wanted to create, is a space where people can come and feel relaxed and comfortable and not looking over their shoulder really.

"It is a feeling of absolute joy because they really have - I don't know if 'abandoned their fear' is the right term - but they are living freely."

Festival Republic has been contacted for comment.

Topics: UK News, Music

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey