The House Rats

𝖲𝗍𝖺𝗍𝖾𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗈𝗋𝗀𝖺𝗇𝗂𝗌𝖾𝗋𝗌 𝗈𝖿 𝖬𝗈𝗎𝗇𝗍𝖥𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟣 - 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟦

Background of the festival:

MountFest was born out of an idea had by our family during lockdown. There were three objectives of the festival:

1. A way of helping Gill (previous landlady) recoup some revenue after lock down.

2. Giving a number of quality bands an opportunity to have a PAID slot at a local festival after lockdown.

3. Providing local families a fun festival for all to enjoy.

The festival was run by our family and friends on a volunteer basis and PA equipment loaned free of charge by Soul Battalion. All the ticket revenue was shared between the bands, sound engineer and compere. The organisers and volunteers didn't get paid. It was our way of helping out where we could and trying to do some good for our local community after COVID.

The local community supported the event each year and we have some fabulous memories.

MountFest 2025

When Gill announced she was leaving the pub there was no mention of anyone new taking over the lease or whether the Mount would ever reopen. There was also no guarantee if anyone should take on the lease that they would require our services.

Around a month ago our family was approached by The Sportsman to put on a music festival for the local community as we had done previously for Gill at the Mount. These things take time to setup, to book the bands, stage, food etc. so a decision had to be made. With no mention of anyone taking over at the Mount, we made a decision to try and continue our community event over at the Sportsman. The stage and sound engineer were booked for Sunday 13th July and negotiations were taking place with the bands ahead of the release in the next two weeks.

We had a call today from the people that have recently taken over the lease at the Mount asking would we be running MountFest again. We explained that as we didn't know what was happening with the Mount that we had already arranged a community music event with the Sportsman. The new lease holder asked the date and then said that they were going to book the same date to run MountFest and go head to head. We stupidly thought the reason for asking the date would be to put on an alternative date at the Mount.

Approximately an hour after the phone call the Mount started advertising the date and selling tickets via Facebook. Shortly after that the lease holders have also messaged some of the bands from last year asking if they will play/run sound at the event and blocked members of our family from their page!

We would have potentially worked with the Mount putting on an alternative date but to be told that they were going to be going head to head with our date and trying to book bands from last year - all seemed an underhand tactic to say the least.

We tried to reach out to the new management to say this wouldn't be a good start to their tenancy but they said that the music festival belonged to the Mount and so did the date.

The fact is the music festival was hosted by the Mount and run by a team of volunteers and the date changed several times during the years.

We have since had another phone call from the lease holder saying they didn't realise how much we put into organising MountFest and offered payment to get on board organising MountFest on the hijacked date. We declined their offer on principle and want to disassociate ourselves with MountFest from this point forward.

We think it is a ludicrous idea to put on two music festivals on the same date at two local pubs so we will not be going head to head with the new MountFest event as this would dilute ticket sales for both festivals.

We will speak to the Sportsman with regards to potential alternative dates and see which bands remain loyal to the spirit of MountFest. We will update you in due course if and when anything is confirmed.

Many thanks to all who supported the festival over the years, we had some fantastic days of music!

The Salts

We had some wonderful guests with us this weekend. Here's Teddy, a fellow House Rat, rocking out with the band to All Right Now 😍🐁🎸

MOUNT FEST
Sunday 16thJuly

Tickets are in the pub.
If you have pre booked can you please collect your tickets by Sunday 18th June.
Cash only!