Supergrass concert at Doncaster Racecourse officially cancelled as Government bans live sport until June

Racecourse bosses had hoped to resume horse racing later this month.

But following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s latest announcement, no elite sport will take place in the UK – even behind closed doors – until June 1 at the earliest.

It was widely expected that the concert – featuring support from Sheffield band Reverend and the Makers – wouldn’t be allowed to go ahead due to a ban on social gatherings and Doncaster Racecourse has now confirmed its cancellation.

A spokesman said: “Due to the global pandemic of Covid-19 the Supergrass and Reverend And The Makers performance at Doncaster Racecourse scheduled to be held on Saturday 16 May has regrettably been cancelled.

“Refunds are available from point of sale and we apologies for any inconvenience. Our top priority remains the health and safety of our artists, partners, employees and you, our audiences.”

At this stage, a concert by fellow Britpop stars Shed Seven, scheduled to take place in August, is still set to go ahead.

Supergrass - Gaz Coombes, Mick Quinn, Danny Goffey and Rob Coombes – have achieved several million record sales, including six top 10 albums and ten top 20 singles.

Formed in Oxford UK in 1993, the Brit, Q, NME and Ivor Novello-winning outfit released their Mercury-nominated No.1 debut album I Should Coco in 1995.

Fourth single, ‘Alright’, was a pop masterpiece for the group and became a massive hit, catapulting the band to global success.

It is not clear if the concert will be rescheduled.

The government has published a 50-page document detailing how England will begin to ease lockdown measures.

Step two of that plan - which will not be allowed to start before 1 June - includes "permitting cultural and sporting events to take place behind closed doors for broadcast, while avoiding the risk of large-scale social contact".

The document states that reopening venues that attract large crowds, such as sports grounds, "may only be fully possible significantly later depending on the reduction in numbers of infections".