Michael Eavis has said that he believes Glastonbury may not return until 2022.

As The Independent reports, in an interview with ITV News West Country, the festival's founder said that it is "wishful thinking" to expect a 2021 edition to go ahead at present. He suggested that the festival's large capacity of up to 250,000 attendants means that an outbreak of COVID-19 would be likely and that it would therefore be unsafe to go ahead with the event without a vaccine.

"500 people is OK, isn't it," he said. "But my job – 250,000 altogether – is too many people I suppose, isn't it really. I'm still hoping I'm going to be running next year and I'm going to be moving heaven and earth to make sure that we do. But that doesn't mean it will necessarily happen. That is just wishful thinking really."

Eavis did however relieve recent fears that the festival might go under as a result of having to take a break. "I do not worry at all," he said. "I am so confident that it will survive. The only certainty I think is the year after, 2022, to be perfectly candid. So we might have to wait for two years maybe."

This year's edition of Glastonbury, which was due to take place in June with Kendrick Lamar, Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift headlining, was cancelled in March due to the spread of COVID-19.