Co-op has renewed its sponsorship of several major UK music festivals for a further five years, extending its partnership with Live Nation UK until 2031.

The company will remain the official supermarket sponsor of Download Festival, Klarna Presents Latitude Festival, Pepsi Presents Reading & Leeds Festivals and Pepsi Presents Creamfields Festival.

Co-op first signed the partnership in 2018 and has since operated pop-up convenience stores at some of the UK’s largest live music events.

The stores, which average around 6,000 sq ft, stock more than 300 products, spanning breakfast, lunch and snacking ranges alongside festival essentials such as toilet paper, personal care products and alcohol.

Co-op said its festival stores had helped change how customers prepare for events by allowing them to purchase groceries and other essentials after arriving, rather than carrying supplies from home.

“Our pop-up stores have rewritten the rules when it comes to accessing grocery essentials at festivals and changed consumer behaviour in terms of stocking up on food and drink pre-event, helping festivalgoers to lighten their loads as they travel from home to the festival campsite,” Co-op head of partnerships and events Nuala Donnelly said.

It has expanded its festival proposition since the partnership began, introducing lower prices for Co-op members and broadening its ranges to include more healthy options.

It has also used the stores to trial sustainability initiatives, including reverse vending machines introduced in 2019 to support recycling efforts.

Co-op said the partnership had become an important way of reaching younger shoppers and recruiting new members. Around 70 per cent of new members joining during the festival season are under the age of 25, according to the retailer.

Donnelly said: “Importantly, for Co-op, our partnership with Live Nation UK has enabled us to engage with a new younger audience and we’ve now become part of their festival experience year after year.

“It’s a unique opportunity to recruit new members but also help shoppers to reappraise the quality of our own-brand food and showcase how we can successfully serve the varied needs of communities, even those that are in fields, with ease.”

Live Nation UK Marketing Partnerships senior vice president of strategic partnerships Clair Cooper Matthews said the collaboration had been built around making festivals more convenient for visitors.

“Over the years, Co-op has become a trusted part of the festival experience,” she said.

“From convenient access to on-site essentials to exclusive member benefits that extend the Co-op Membership experience across our festivals, they’ve consistently focused on the little things that can make a big difference to fans.”

Co-op has also expanded its presence in live music through its naming-rights partnership with Co-op Live, the Manchester venue billed as the UK’s largest indoor arena.

The venue offers Co-op members discounted prices and early access to ticket presales, while its food and drink proposition includes mini Co-op stores, hot food stations and a pizza kitchen serving the retailer’s own-brand products.

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