Leeds's Slam Dunk Festival is on the move to Temple Newsam

It has played host to some of the biggest names in rock music over the years.
The crowd  at a previous Slam Dunk Festival in Leeds.The crowd  at a previous Slam Dunk Festival in Leeds.
The crowd at a previous Slam Dunk Festival in Leeds.

And now Leeds’s Temple Newsam estate is tuning up to welcome another batch of world-famous guitar heroes following its confirmation as the new home for the city’s Slam Dunk Festival.

The hugely-popular alternative rock event has been staged in the city centre each year since 2006.

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This evening, though, organisers announced that next year’s festival will take place in the wide open spaces of Temple Newsam on Saturday, May 25.

The move follows a successful switch last year by the event’s southern leg from the University of Hertfordshire to Hatfield Park, near Watford.

Slam Dunk director Ben Ray said: “I am slightly sad to be leaving the city centre, as it was really fun to do, but the event will be much better with all the space at Temple Newsam.

“I’d like to thank Leeds City Council for all the support on the event, both in the city centre and now with moving it to a new home.”

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The festival grew out of the regular Slam Dunk club night, which was held at Leeds’s old Cockpit venue in the early 2000s but now runs at the Key Club in the Merrion Centre.

Thousands of fans flocked to this year’s bash, which was staged in Millennium Square and other city centre locations in May and featured acts such as Good Charlotte, Jimmy Eat World and Goldfinger.

Headliners in previous years have included the likes of Panic! At The Disco and Enter Shikari.

Organisers say details of the line-up for next year’s event are “coming soon”.

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Temple Newsam was the home of Leeds Festival for four years until it made the move to its current site at Bramham Park in 2003.

Acts who played the event during its stay in east Leeds included Oasis, Guns N’ Roses, Foo Fighters and Manic Street Preachers.

The V97 and V98 music festivals were also held at Temple Newsam, with Blur and The Verve among the headliners in those two years.

A host of top pop acts – including One Direction and Girls Aloud – also graced Temple Newsam during its 19-year stint as the home of Leeds’s Party In The Park concerts.