A popular music festival in Dorset has been axed after becoming unsustainable for organisers. The Cliff Top Music Festival, held in Highcliffe and run by Stir Events CIC, had been operating for three years before soaring costs, insufficient support and persistent objections left organisers with no choice but to scrap future plans.
Stir Events CIC said: "It is with a heavy heart that we confirm the cancellation of the Cliff Top Music Festival 2026. This has been one of the most difficult decisions we have ever had to make."
"The challenges surrounding the future delivery of the event have become too great for our small not-for-profit team to overcome. Whilst we fully accept that events must be scrutinised and that concerns should be raised where appropriate, the ongoing pressures, objections, and lack of positive support, morally and financially, along with increasing prices for event infrastructure has taken a toll on both our organisation and our volunteers."
The previous year, Stir Events CIC put forward proposals to expand the festival to three days, twice a year, with later evening hours. That application attracted 22 objections, amongst them one from Highcliffe and Walkford Parish Council. The event was subsequently scaled back to a two-day, once-yearly festival, which organisers were ultimately permitted to stage.
Mandy Polkey, event manager at Stir Events, said: "It is so frustrating that we have had to cancel this event, it is the worst thing I have ever had to do, and I am sorry to all of the people who have supported it. I want to put on events in areas that are going to support me. Stir Events will be moving out of Highcliffe, we will never hold another event in Highcliffe again."
"The people supporting it have been wonderful, but it is the minority that have ruined it for the majority."
Highcliffe and Walkford parish council awarded the event a £10,000 grant in 2025, and has confirmed they were anticipating an application for this year's event. Ms Polkey said she opted not to pursue parish council funding for 2026, adding: "I didn't apply for funding this year from the parish council as the emails I was getting from them felt like they wouldn't give me a grant."
A Highcliffe and Walkford Parish Council spokesperson said: "The cancellation of the festival will be a loss to music lovers in the wider area. It's been a fixture here for three years, and the Parish Council has provided significant grant funding to keep it going, including £10,000 last year, and £8,500 in 2024 when that event was almost cancelled itself. This cancellation has come as a great surprise and will be a huge blow to everyone who's worked so hard on it."
