'Mini Glastonbury' hope

Heartland Festival organiser has big dream for the future as ticket sales shoot up

- KATHRYN ANDERSON

The organiser of Pitlochry’s Heartland Festival dreams of it growing to become a “mini Glastonbury for Scotland” as the event was given the go-ahead for a second year.

Ticket sales for this year’s festival are up 40 per cent on last year’s which - while generating £1.8 million for the local economy - is expected to operate at a loss for the second year running.

Organiser Graham Howie had not planned on running the festival for a second year - after losing so much last year - but agreed after festival-goers pleaded for the “best festival” to be repeated.

The festival director made the revelation as he presented the public entertainment licensing application for Heartland Festival 2025 to Perth and Kinross Licensing Committee on Monday, May 12. It is due to take place at Pitlochry’s Recreation Ground from June 28 to 29.

Skerryvore, Kyle Falconer, Torridon and Nathan Evans and the St Phx Band are among the headline acts due to perform.

Councillors unanimously granted a public entertainment licence for this year’s festival.

But Cllr Keith Allan challenged Mr Howie on running the festival at a financial loss.

Mr Howie said: "In years to come, I think there's a capacity there to bring the event up to 10,000 but if you go over that, you start to lose the community feel.

"If you get the ticket pricing right, there’s no reason that the festival could be profitable. We have a little advertising this year. We haven't been able to get a sponsor so that’s one of my key tasks for August onwards to try and find someone who will sponsor us, without us losing our integrity. It's a difficult call but I believe it's achievable.