THE Beacons Festival is leaving Craven - its base for the past six years.

Under the new name of Beacons Metro, it will move to Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester and will encompass a series of cutting-edge events.

Film, music, art and food will continue to be at its heart.

Beacons spokesman Simon Stevens said: “After a great deal of careful thought and consideration, the Beacons Festival will bidding farewell to the green fields and valleys of the Yorkshire Dales to take up a series of exciting residencies in Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool, three of the North of England’s most vibrant and creative cities.

“Despite the feeling that 2014 was the best Beacons Festival so far, the feedback we received from the vast majority of festival-goers was that the cost of attending a traditional, camping festival was becoming increasingly difficult to meet.

“Our desire to make Beacons more accessible, combined with the opportunity to work with some amazing partners at some truly unique spaces, was enough to convince us that the time was right to move onto the next stage of the festival’s evolution.”

The Beacons Festival had a shaky start - the inaugural event in 2011 had to be cancelled at the last minute because of floods at its site off Heslaker Lane, Carleton, and the surrounding roads.

However, it recovered to become one of the fastest growing festivals in the north of England, gaining a reputation for offering an eclectic mix of performers.

Mr Stevens added: “We’d like to apologise to all those who have already purchased early bird tickets for 2015. We have contacted all customers and will be arranging full refunds as soon as possible. The team would also like to thank everyone who’s attended Beacons Festival in its various guises over the past years. We hope you’re as excited as we are about our plans for 2015.”

Full venue, programming and ticketing information will be released over the coming weeks.