Hop Farm Festival will not continue

The latest organiser of the Hop Farm Music Festival at Paddock Wood Neil Butkeraitis, says the festival will not continue, adding he believes "It is cursed ground." It's certainly not been good Butkeraitis whose company faces liquidation.

It is likely the previous organiser Irish promoter Vince Power would agree as not only did he have to cancel the original event, but he's since been banned from hosting live music events, after the High Court ruled that he had held the festival in previous years without the appropriate licencing.

The original Hop Farm event, was cancelled last year by Vince Power due to poor ticket sales, and returned this summer under new management. The scaled down event was threatened with legal action from Power over the use of the already existing name and logos.

The woes of Butkeraitis have now been worsened reports the Kent Messenger (here) with news that his company, Hop Farm Music Festival Ltd, is to be the subject of liquidation proceedings at the High Court next month.

Butkeraitis resigned as a director earlier this month, citing financial disagreements behind the scenes, that left contractors unpaid, including his own production and security firms.

He tells the news network, "In 10 years in the industry this has never happened to me. The event was delivered under our £3million budget - what didn’t stick up was ticket sales but the festival was part of a three year plan for the site.

“Even though everyone locally enjoyed the festival and we had some big acts lined-up for next year, now three of my companies look like they will go into liquidation.

"I’m absolutely gutted. The festival will not continue. It is cursed ground."

Certainly after attempts by two promoters at hosting a festival on the site, it looks unlikely that the Hop Farm will ever make a return.

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