Photo: Press

The V Festival as we know it has come to an end after 22 years following an announcement by Richard Branson. The event, which is held across two sites in Chelmsford and Weston Park, will be re-branded and re-launched next year.

Branson said: "V Festival has always been a special weekend for everyone at Virgin. We’ve been proud to sponsor V Festival for the past two decades and there have been some incredible performances on the stage. Now, after 22 very enjoyable and successful years, 2017 was Virgin’s last V Festival."

He added: “Being part of V Festival has been an honour and there are some amazing moments that will stay with me forever – including introducing Paul Weller and welcoming V2 Records’ first signing The Stereophonics to a massive audience.

“Who would have thought that an idea to sell cut-price mail-order records would grow into a record label, let alone a unique music festival – and so much else besides?”

This summer’s festival saw headline slots from Pink and Jay-Z.

Festival Republic boss Melvin Benn told Music Week that the festival will continue in 2018 under a new name, which will be revealed next month.

“The festivals will continue, we have the announcement later in November of the replacement name,” he said. “We are looking forward to the new festival now, it’s just something that we are incredibly excited about.”

He continued: “It will very much continue to have a pop and dance focus. We will have a complete refresh and it’s likely to go to three days. I believe the demand warrants it – the demand and the talent are out there.”

V Festival launched in 1996. The northern leg of the festival moved to Stafford in 1999 after the Leeds Festival settled into the original Temple Newsam site.