Reading festival applies for fourth night and extended alcohol sales
Festival say they need to 'freshen' their offer to fans
Last updated 17th Aug 2026
Reading festival has applied for changes to its licence enabling it to use the main stage for live music on the Thursday night of the festival weekend.
They also want to sell alcohol until 3 in the morning and increase the number of people who arrive on the Wednesday from 20,000 to 40,000.
The festival takes place every August Bank Holiday weekend with more than 104,000 people licensed to attend.
The organisers say Reading festival is the most successful of its kind in the world but to maintain that they need to freshen their offering to ticket holders.
Local resident groups - usually understanding - have objected saying it'll increase noise and disruption. But organisers say it'll make little difference being that fans already start arriving on the Wednesday and their event is already structured to run from Wednesday through the August bank holiday weekend. they also point out it won't add to numbers or change any of the strict controls already in place for sound and alcohol sales.
Success
In a letter to Reading borough council Claire Armstrong from Festival Republic said:
"Reading Festival has been held continually for over 50 years. It is the most successful festival of its kind, in the world. To maintain the success, the offering to ticket holders cannot stand still. The purpose of this application is to freshen our offering to ticket holders whilst further promoting the Licensing Objectives.
"I hope that the long-standing relationship Festival Republic has with the town, council officers, public authorities and the wider community demonstrates our continued commitment to putting on an event that can be enjoyed by festival-goers with as little disruption to the community as possible and provide significant economic benefit to Reading."
Impacts
But WADRA which represents residents across the river from the Festival site in 'the Warren' have objected and in a letter to the council said:
"Our objection to extending the alcohol licence is motivated by a desire to ensure that Reading Festival remains both enjoyable and safe. Equally, we believe it is important to consider the needs of those residents and local businesses that do not directly benefit from the Festival but experience its impacts.
"Many residents will be working on Friday and will not welcome an additional evening of amplified music. After more than 15 years of constructive partnership, Festival Republic and local community representatives have established a relationship that has enabled Reading Festival to remain broadly welcomed within Caversham despite the inevitable disruption it causes. "
Disruption
CADRA which represents residents in neighbouring Caversham has similar concerns and said:
"It is hard to see what the benefit of these proposals is to residents. There is likely to be increased noise and disruption for residents and there does not appear to be any benefits for the residents or the traders in Caversham. CADRA would assume that the council must get some benefit from Festival Republic. It might therefore be that there are benefits that will fall to Reading Borough Council. However, details of these potential benefits are not available to residents or CADRA. As such, when CADRA is looking at the balance of positives and negatives it can only see negatives and therefore has to object to the proposal. "
Brilliant
But several individual residents living nearby have written to support the proposal including Eoghan Collins from nearby Chiltern Road in Caversham who said:
"I adore festival weekend. There's less trouble than when Reading play football. Or a regular Friday night. The festival brings great energy and buzz to the town, recently with very little disruption to traffic. The festival is a brilliant event."