WOMAD festival to move to Wiltshire

LONDON, Oct 4 (Reuters) World music festival WOMAD will move to a new venue in Wiltshire next year after deciding to quit its Reading site, its home since 1990, organisers said today.

Audience feedback gathered from the festival last year included strong criticism of the Rivermead site next to the River Thames, in particular overcrowding.

Even though organisers made a number of changes to the Rivermead site this year, festival goers still complained about lack of space.

''We have reluctantly come to the conclusion that the festival has now outgrown the available land at the Rivermead site, and our belief is that we must now seek to move our festival if we are to protect its long-term future and audience appeal,'' WOMAD said in a statement.

Full details of the new festival site will be announced on November 1, when tickets for the 2007 festival -- taking place from Friday July 27 until Sunday July 29 -- will also go on sale.

REUTERS MS RN1634