Love to Be festival returns to Harrogate's Stray with clubland's Claptone, Mousse T and Gok Wan

Tony Walker co-founded the event in 1994 and was later joined by Marc Dennis – they are also known as house music duo Trimtone. It hosted legendary parties at the Music Factory on London Road and was known for presenting acts such as American DJ Frankie Knuckles and Basement Jaxx.

It came at the right time, remembers Marc, when “people were coming out of the warehouse raves and the rave scene into more grown-up venues”.

These days, the brand exists in the form of Love to Be… Festival and on Saturday its latest line-up will perform at The Stray in Harrogate for the third year running.

Marc, 47, who is originally from Manchester and now based in Brighouse, says it was “a big unknown” when they first set the festival up. “We really launched after lockdown and doing club events was fine, but I think to keep moving the brand forwards, it was important to go into the festival market. It's going really well. There's a lot of excitement and, thankfully, it's becoming a really established part of the calendar.”

The 2026 line-up includes acts such as Claptone, Sam Divine, Paul Woolford, Mousse T, Todd Terry, Gok Wan, Julie McKnight (Live), K‑Klass (Live), Trimtone, Cash Only, Grant Nelson, and more across three stages.

Following last year’s sold‑out event, 6,000 house music lovers are set to attend The Stray with a bigger main stage, new ‘chillout zone’, fresh layout and upgraded “VIP garden”.

It comes after industrial change means that “clubland is suffering,” says Marc. “There's not a lot of night clubs and the DJ fees dictate that you have to have a bigger capacity.”

While every event is a risk, he says, “taking on a festival was very scary. The amount of investment you have to put into it, the cost of the infrastructure. You're not just walking into a ready-made club, you're walking into a field with nothing in it. So everything down to health and safety licensing, the bars, security, just the road traffic management. There’s a whole list of things.

“Fortunately, we've got some really good partners who we work with across the events as well, and we've got a really solid team now, and we've learned a lot over the last couple of years. But yeah, very scary, and we had a lot of sleepless nights deciding whether to do it or not. But thankfully, it went really well the first year, and there was a real pinch-me moment when we walked out on the stage, and there were 1000s of people in front of us, and even now, every year it's the same.”

Another boon is the loyal fanbase from decades past who are now bringing their children, nieces and nephews. But, says Marc, “the older ones actually party harder than the younger ones, believe it or not.”

Tickets and information: www.lovetobeevents.co.uk/festival