The Y Not Festival is an annual music festival held in Pikehall, Derbyshire, United Kingdom. It began in 2005 as a house party organized by Ralph Broadbent.^[1] In its first year, its was named The Big Gin Festival (a play on its location near Biggin in the Peak District) and the stage used in the festival has retained its name as The Big Gin Stage. The following year, it was renamed Y Not Festival and was opened to the public. In 2007, the festival relocated to its current site at Pikehall in Derbyshire.

The event won awards and accolades at the UK Festival Awards, such as Best Grassroots Event and Best Toilets in 2011 and Best Small Festival in 2012. In 2016, the festival was sold to Global Radio's festival division, Broadwick Live.

The original owners regained ownership of the festival in 2019. The event was not held in 2020 and 2021 as a result of lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In November 2022, it was announced that the UK-company, Superstruct Entertainment, had acquired a majority stake in the Y Not Festival.^[2]

Below is a timeline of the festival's long history from its founding. The topmost part of the list resembles the latest in the festival's whole run.

2022: Y Not Festival 2022 was held on 28–31 July 2022. The Kooks, Stereophonics, Courteeners and Blossoms played headline sets across the weekend. Other notable performances included a special guest slot from Levellers on Saturday afternoon, and The Vaccines' who played the Sunday evening set.

2020-2021: The website announced that Y Not Festival 2020 will be cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions, offering two options for people that have already bought their tickets:

• Option 1 offered a swap for a 2021 ticket, with a free early entry pass on the festival's Thursday. If they already have an early entry pass, they are promised a VIP upgrade, but if the festival goers already have a VIP pass, they get free parking on Y Not Festival 2021. They further the benefits for this option with the ticket buyers being entered automatically to a free prize draw for one of the festival's luxury cabins for Y Not 2021. They explain the reason for these benefits, saying that everyone who rolls over their ticket to 2021 is helping "ensure the survival of the festival".^[3]

• Option 2 offers a full refund. Failing to refund the ticket within four weeks from the Y Not 2020 cancellation announcement automatically changes the ticket into a 2021 ticket, with all the Option 1 conditions applied.

When 2021 came, however, the website announced on July 1st that Y Not Festival will have to be delayed until 2022. The festival did not make it to the government-sponsored Event Research Programme, which was a program that permits events to take place, with the intention of studying the risk of COVID-19 transmissions in events and ultimately find the best ways to hold an event.^[4] This and the rising cases of COVID-19 both locally and nationally caused the cancellation of Y Not Festival 2021. They reveal being close to selling out, along with the reassurance that all tickets and upgrades will be rolled over to 2022, and that refunds will be made available in a few days after the announcement.

2019: The 2019 festival was held on July 25-28. On Saturday, the event was headlined by Two Door Cinema Club, supported by a guest appearance from IDLES. Gerry Cinnamon played a set on Friday. Mike Skinner from The Streets and Jax Jones both made appearances at the event with DJ sets. Bands The Wired and Airways were scheduled to play at the festival, however, due to unannounced delays, doors to the event were opened over 2 hours after the posted time of 4pm, and therefore their sets were cancelled.

2018: As a result of the 2017 cancellation, Y Not Festival 2018 was relocated to Aston Hill Farm, close to the old site of Mouldridge Lane. The festival hosted bands such as The Libertines, Manic Street Preachers, Seasick Steve and Jamiroquai in that year.

2017: In 2017, the festival was affected by adverse weather conditions and was eventually cancelled on the final day. They decided to cancel the event after consulting relevant authorities, especially after the evident worsening of weather conditions since Saturday night of the festival's duration. Refunds were also given to guests as compensation for the event. ^[5]

2016: The 2016 festival was a success, being held between 28 and 31 July. It was headlined by Editors, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Madness, The Hives, Catfish and the Bottlemen and The Cribs.

2015: The 2015 festival was held between 31 July and 2 August. The festival was headlined by Snoop Dogg, Basement Jaxx and Primal Scream, while Ash, Beans on Toast, Asylums and Bloxed Beats played the festival on Thursday 30 July as the early entry acts.^[6]

2014: The 2014 festival was held between 1–3 August. The festival was headlined by White Lies, Dizzee Rascal and Frank Turner.^[7]

2013: Y Not Festival 2013 saw Mystery Jets cutting their set short after heavy rains and lightning strikes occurred in the area. Other bands that performed on Y Not 2013 were Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, The Horrors, Swim Deep, The Cribs, Electric Six, and The Darkness.^[8]

2012: The 2012 festival was held between 3–5 August. The festival was headlined by The View, The Wombats and We Are Scientists. The festival returned to its usual site in Pikehall, also seeing the return of its three music stages, the Big Gin Stage, The Quarry and The Allotment, plus the introduction of a new stage, The Giant Squid.

2011: The 2011 festival was held between 5–7 August. It was headlined by The Go! Team, Feeder and Maxïmo Park. The festival was once again located in Pikehall where the capacity was at 5,000 people. The festival's theme that year was "Good vs Evil".^[9]

The festival had three music stages:

• The main stage called "Big Gin Stage" named after the first festival

• A smaller stage called "The Quarry" named after the location of the 2006 festival
• "The Allotment" was a new addition to 2011 which hosted a variety of local bands. "The Allotment" stage was named after a competition was held on Facebook and Twitter.

The festival won two categories at the UK Festival Awards, the grass roots festival award and the prize for the best toilets.^[10]

2010: The Y Not Festival in 2010 was headlined by The Futureheads, The Subways and The Mystery Jets. Other acts included Blood Red Shoes, Los Campesinos, Darwin Deez, King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys, OK Go, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Twisted Wheel, Turin Brakes, Rox, Little Comets, Kid British, Daisy Dares You, Slow Club, Goldheart Assembly, Jim Lockey & The Solemn Sun, Tubelord, Foy Vance, Max Raptor, Fenech Soler, Sparrow and the Workshop, THePETEBO, Doll & The Kicks, Sketches, Matthew P, Morning Parade, 51/50s, Kill It Kid, and North Atlantic Oscillation.

The event ran from Friday 30th July to Sunday 1st August. Hoping to cut the overall carbon footprint down to a minimum, festival goers were convinced to take either public transport or ride in personal vehicles, targeting to at least have 60% of festival goers do that. In doing so, rewards like lanyards, programmes, posters, T-shirts and showers were given to festival goers that abided by this. A free shuttle bus that connects both the Buxton - Ashbourne bus route and the Matlock train station to the festival was also added, reducing carbon footprint as well as increasing accessibility.^[11]The festival took place on two stages at a site on Mouldridge Lane near Matlock, Derbyshire, where an estimated number of 50 acts were offered.

2009: The Y Not Festival sold out in 2009. The line up on the main stage included The Sunshine Underground, The King Blues, Noah and the Whale, Young Knives, Nine Black Alps, Shotshotstacy, and Esser. Beardyman and Frank Turner were on the acoustic stage. The festival featured a lot of other artists and DJs over the three days of live music.

2008: The third Y Not Festival was again held at Pikehall, Derbyshire. The festival expanded further and around 2000 people attended over three days. Bigger and more well-known acts such as the Mystery Jets, Cage the Elephant, and Frank Turner were included in the performances, but neither the Mystery Jets nor Cage the Elephant showed up at the festival.

2007: The second Y Not Festival was held at a new venue, at Pikehall, Derbyshire. This allowed the festival to sprawl over a larger area. Around 1000 people attended over the three days of the event.

2006: The first Y Not Festival was held in a quarry in Derbyshire. Around 500 people attended over three days. Many of the bands that played were unsigned or local. A DVD documentary was made about this festival.