BREAKING: K-Pop Festival at Northwick Park postponed until 2026

 According to a message from Magic Sound re-posted on a local Whats App group  Magic Sound have decided to postpone the  MIK K-Pop Festival in Northwick Park until 2026.

They thanked residents for their 'time and insight' and said that residents' knowledge of the park and the local area had been invaluable to them.  

Many practial concerns had been raised by residents despite the police and Brent Public Safety Officer withdrawing objections to the licensing application.

On the Next Door website  Preston ward Councillor Daniel Kennelly said:

Regardless of the suspension, I like others have serious concerns about this potential event. Therefore I will be engaging with organisers and ensuring that they are working with residents to minimise any disruption caused should these events go ahead in 2026. I have already contacted them following the publication of the licensing hearing report and will be in contact with residents and groups as this conversation progresses.

 

LETTER: Brent Licensing Committee proceedings on K-Pop application unbelievable and infuriating

 

The walk from Harrow-on-the-Hill to the festival site

 

Dear Editor,

 

We residents would wager the organisers of the Made in Korea (K-Pop) event are angry with Brent Council and may now be getting cold feet as more and more issues come to light and the risk of cancellation due to bad weather, specifically rain, is becoming clearer.  Why do we have this opinion?

 

They didn't know (the council didn’t tell them) about the people living within feet of the concert compound until they were told two days before the consultation ended. It is believed that a parks representative has recently spoken to the bungalow residents and told them they will have to live with it! They attended the Licensing Hearing but were so upset by the proceeding that they walked out in fury over the poor questioning by the committee members from the south of the Borough, one councillor said she knew the park well having played rounders there – and how long ago was that then, perhaps 1990’s?

 

They didn't know that the ‘great’ Public Transport Hubs they had been told about by the council were totally unsuitable for such large numbers.  They will now have to use Harrow on the Hill as the principal transportation hub, which just happens to be some 2.5 kilometres away, that’s about a 30-minute walk without hold ups, holdups such as crossing two major roads! Even utilising this station, the 15-20,000 attendees will have to crocodile through the 3mtr wide under pass to cross the A404 Watford Road, which carries circa 35,000 vehicles a day. The organisers said they are having to revisit the event timings to take account of the time it will take to get 15,000 people to Harrow in time to cover onward travel connections. Even Saturday is not particularly well serviced after 11pm.

 

The committee unbelievably hadn’t been informed by the council, and the ward councillor didn’t know (if his objection at the Licensing Committee was to be believed); that the playing fields have been waterlogged during periods of high precipitation, going back decades. At its worst, the edge of the Capital Ring Footpath is under at least six inches of water with no way round even using the playing fields as they are also flooded.  The ward councillor inexplicably said that the footpath only started flooding a year ago, and was reported, well this is Brent isn’t it. Residents tell us that they have complained to the councillor and the council since 2022 with no action so far being taken. Users of the path can all tell you that the watercourse along the path should be draining the fields, however, due to neglect the watercourse no longer serves its essential purpose. It also should be noted that some of the recent planning consents at the hospital and the new 700 flats will all be utilising the watercourse for their drainage, which will only make matters worse unless essential improvements are made to the watercourse. But don’t worry, Brent is investigating apparently.

 

The organisers have been led to believe that no sporting users would be disrupted by the concert; they've now found out that Gaelic Football and one Cricket Ground will be inaccessible for three weeks from mid-May due to the positioning of the concert area. Also, during the events, all the fields will be out of use due to the setting up of entry and exit paths. Of course, there will then be many weeks after the concert area has gone, while ground renovation takes place and recovers; this recovery period will no doubt end Gaelic Football on Northwick Park Playing Fields, a clear discrimination of our fellow residents who play Gaelic Football for Parnells but have not been acknowledged by the Council. The council didn’t even think to inform the playing field users.

 

We could hazard a bet that the organisers are furious with Brent Council at all levels for not informing, nay, not knowing about these issues. 

 

Apparently, the council told the organisers to use Northwick Park and not Fryent Park as Northwick is flat and had good public transport links (what a joke that is now) and has unrestricted parking in the area; this was probably well over a year ago.  Oh, how Brent Council and its councillors disrespect the residents of their borough. Regarding parking, the organisers suggested at the Licensing Committee that there should be Residents Parking in the area for the events so that they can have access and get blue lights and coaches in and out!

 

It appears that the local councillor knew of these events long before eventually informing a small number of residents about the Licensing Application via a Whatsapp link, and we are informed that the councillor refused to share the response to the application. The Preston Councillors were not informed according to rumours and found out through their residents’ association or the Nextdoor App.

 

Neither Northwick Park Hospital, nor Sovereign Network Group (the housing supplier) have been advised about the events by the Council, they were not required to be notified under Licensing Law, so that’s OK, isn’t it?

 

The organisers said there was now a liaison group including the hospital, however, that has not begun yet and was suggested by either the London Fire Brigade or London Ambulance Service, which is more likely.

 

The University of Westminster have obviously been in communication with the organisers as they were to have the second weekend for their ‘local social events’, however, the organisers have now abandoned the second event weekend. Will the university now be such a strong supporter, and do they really want 15-20,000 people trapesing through there site on their way to Harrow on the Hill station just at pub throw out time at a weekend?

 

The Football Foundation have funded Brent’s football pitches by over £2m since 2000. Their 2024 Plan for Brent recommends that their future football development priorities for Brent include Improving grass pitches. It goes on to say that there are seven grass football pitches in Northwick Park, and it is one of their priority areas for improvement. This includes the refurbishment of the pavilion changing rooms which are currently closed due to a water borne virus. The football pitches are listed as needing refurbishment due to the lack of maintenance by the Council. This was acknowledged in a Brent report dating back to 2016, only three years after a drainage scheme was put in place funded by the Lottery, FA, and the Football Foundation.

 

What a very sad borough Brent has become.

 

A Northwick Park resident

 

Northwick Park K-POP Festival organisers respond to local residents

 

  

This is a response sent to concerned residents who had objected to the K (Korean) Pop application to hold a Festival in Northwick Park in the summer LINK.

 

Dear Resident, 

 

Thank you for taking the time to voice your concerns regarding our application for a premises licence in Northwick Park. I appreciate that this can feel like a very daunting prospect for our neighbours and I wanted to write to you to try and alleviate some of your concerns. 

 

Firstly, I wanted to introduce the people behind the application. 

 

Magic Sound are based in Brent and are promoters of touring artists from the Far East, primarily in the genre of Korean pop music, known colloquially as K-Pop. Within the UK this genre is very popular with females between the ages of 10 and 24; as a result, our audience is very much a family audience where under 18s are not permitted to attend without parents or legal guardians. 

 

Magic Sound have engaged The Event Umbrella (TEU), who are experienced event producers working extensively in public open spaces across London to manage event delivery, both in the planning phase and onsite through the installation, live and dismantlement phases. 

 

Further to this, TEU also works on behalf of other local authorities managing the application process for the use of public land in respect of event hirers. These dual roles, as both producers and approvers for events on public land means that TEU understand how crucial it is to protect residents and mitigate against impact on the local community. 

 

The premises licence that is applied for proposes the use of the park for one event in 2025, for a maximum of 3 consecutive days and for future years for a maximum of 6 event days, with no more than 3 consecutive days. However, the current event plans for 2025 are for a two-day event taking place on the Saturday and Sunday, 7 – 8 June. 

 

A key aspect of the conditions of the premises licence application is that a number of documents must be presented for scrutiny by the responsible authorities including the Metropolitan Police, London Ambulance Service, Brent Noise Control, London Fire Brigade, Transport for London and others. These documents include security and crowd management plans, noise management plans, litter and waste plans, to name but a few. If these documents do not live up to scrutiny then the event would not be able to proceed. 

 

In this email I will address the three main causes for concern – noise, security (including alcohol) and litter – but also speak a little bit about traffic management.

1. Noise. A professional noise impact assessment is being carried out over the coming weeks that will be used to create a noise management plan to minimise disruption to residents. This management plan will be in line with The Noise Council Code of Practice on Environmental Noise Control at Concerts and will set levels at which music can be played. These levels will reflect the nature of the space the event is occupying.
2. Security / Ingress & Egress / Alcohol. A full security and crowd management plan will be developed, not just for the internal footprint of the event, but for the external areas including the local transport links. SIA stewards will be deployed to fixed positions to monitor and manage crowd behaviour and response teams will be dedicated to the surrounding roads, should issues arise. Additionally we will be working extensively with Transport for London to manage the ingress and egress of people through the stations to the park. Given the nature of the event proposed for 2025, it is unlikely that excessive alcohol consumption will be an issue but that does not mean that the sale of alcohol will not be managed in accordance with best practice. Korean food, music and culture are the focus of Magic Sound events, not alcohol. SIA will be located at the bar and response teams will monitor consumption across the event footprint and the wider park area.
3. Litter. Waste management at the event is again not focused solely on our footprint, but also across the park, along footpaths and residential roads. Teams of pickers and cleaners will be deployed across these areas to ensure that they are maintained and that we leave no trace at the end of the event.
4. Traffic. Another concern that I know our neighbours will have is the management of traffic inside and outside the park; whilst this isn’t a licensing objective, I appreciate it remains important. A traffic management team will be a crucial part of the advance planning process. They will be looking at how they protect residential parking, manage event related traffic whilst minimising disruption to existing park users and ensuring that taxi drop offs are carried out at a designated point with the least impact on houses.

 

Each of these four keys areas of concerns will have dedicated response teams when the event is live. Residents in the surrounding area will be issued with a dedicated contact number where they can report concerns or issues as they are happening. We will then deploy the relevant response team to take the appropriate action. 

 

I would like to finish by saying that whilst we know that events have not previously taken place in Northwick Park and therefore it is unlikely that one can take place without any change to park users’ daily experience of the park, we are committed to listening to our residents and working with them to reduce the impact insofar as is possible. I know the use of spaces in this way is controversial, but they do absolutely benefit the local authority financially and for those residents who have an interest in attending them, they offer an experience and chance to make memories with their families close to home. 

 

We will be offering residents the chance to attend consultation sessions and we have a direct email mik@magic-sound.co.uk where you can contact us to ask any questions. Further to that there will be chance for free and discounted tickets, as well as opportunities for people to get involved with the event. 

 

Yours sincerely, Victoria Hazell Show Producer

 

 EDITOR'S NOTE: Although the above says that it will be a 2 day event the licence application states:

The intention is for MIK to take place over a weekend (2 days). Whilst dates are pending at the time of writing, the speculative dates will be the 7 – 8 June 2025, with approximately 10 days prior for construction and 5 days following for derig,

 

BREAKING: Application for 3 day Korean Pop Music Festival in Northwick Park summer 2025

MIK22 Festival in Southwark Park

Hot on the heels of the Fryent Country Park application for a summer festival, which was withdrawn, another application been received for Northwick Park.

The MIK (made in Korea) 2025 with an attendance of up to 15,000 would be held in summer 2025 with a 'to be confirmed' date of June 7th-8th (although the application details Friday-Sunday). A section of the park would be required for 10 days prior to the Festival and 5 days following for preparation and dismantling. It would be surrounded by metal fencing.

 

The licence would cover 11am-10.30pm for plays, films, live music, record music. dance and workshops. Friday to Sunday. A licence to sell alcohol would run from 11am - 10pm Friday to Sunday.

MUSIC FROM LIVE BANDS WILL BE AMPLIFIED ON ALL STAGES WHICH COULD INCLUDE INDOOR AND OUTDOOR STAGESNon-standard Times

SOUND CHECKING MAY TAKE PLACE BETWEEN 09:00 - 18:00 MONDAY TO SUNDAY.

The organisers describe the event:

MIK 2025 is the second year (the first was 2022 in Southwark Park) of Magic Sound’s outdoor festival experience, showcasing international talent born out of the Korean Pop movement (K-Pop), now a globally recognised music genre.

 

The intention is for MIK to take place over a weekend (2 days). Whilst dates are pending at the time of writing, the speculative dates will be the 7 – 8 June 2025, with approximately 10 days prior for construction and 5 days following for derig.

 

Entertainment will consist of a single concert stage showcasing Korean Pop and Chinese Pop acts of international recognition, with amplified loud and recorded music. There will also be sale of alcohol as well as amenities such as food concessions and merchandise at the event. The event site will be fully enclosed in steel shield fencing to ensure access is controlled to ticket holders only via a single public entrance. A further production entrance will be identified for authorised, accredited personnel.

 

The London Borough of Brent (LBB), and specifically Northwick Park, have been chosen by the organisers due to the borough’s diverse population and access to public transport, walking and cycling facilities. MIK 2025 will provide a youth-led boost to Brent’s local economy.

 

The promoters and curators are Magic Sound (MS), who have produced a number of shows at indoor institutions such as the O2 and Wembley Arena, as well as MIK 2022 in Southwark.

 

MS have appointed TEU to produce MIK, overseeing operational planning and delivery of the event in the advance, live and postmortem phases of the event. TEU is staffed and managed by a team of experienced and qualified professionals with a proven track record of running safe events. Carefully selected contractors and individuals will be charged with running various aspects of the event on each day and will be answerable to a single Event Manager. The Event Manager, Site Manager, Security Manager and nominated Safety Manager will work as the Event Operations Team (EOT), consulting each other on various aspects of the show and liaising with heads of department, emergency service and LBB

 

The proposed premises sits within Northwick Park, a large public greenspace situated between Harrow and Kenton, with Watford Road to the west and Norval Road to the south. Northwick Park Hospital sits to the west of the site alongside the University of Westminster, Harrow campus. Train lines run north and east. The park is laid to grass with sports pitches and an access road leads to a car park at the centre with a foot path leading on to Northwick Park station. This road and footpath is known as the Capital Ring. The proposed licensable area is centred at approximately: OS Grid Ref: TQ 17029 87551 Latitude: 51u00b034'29"N Longitude: 0u00b018'45"W

 

The MIK 2022 in Southwark Park went ahead despite protests but a repeat in 2023 was cancelled after the organisers failed to sell enough tickets in the face of rising costs. See LINK

 

The full application with supporting documents can be seen on the Brent website and comments can be made with a deadline of January 14th 2025. SEE LINK 

 

The grounds on which comments can be made are fairly narrow. This is from the Brent website:

 Comment on applications

When a premises first applies for a licence, or if they apply to vary their licence, or if the licence is reviewed, you can comment on the application to support or oppose it.

 

How to comment

 

If you want to comment on an application, you must do it in writing by the advertised date. This is usually 28 days after the application was made.

 

Representations (comments) will usually be expected to relate to at least one of the licensing objectives.

 

The objectives are:

• preventing crime and disorder
• public safety
• preventing public nuisance
• protecting children from harm.

 

View the online register and comment on applications