20 gin festivals cancelled as company goes into administration

Advance ticket holders to festival events were told the company was not able to offer refunds.

Around 20,000 tickets had been sold for scheduled events in Norwich, Sandown, Worcester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Lincoln, Portsmouth, London, Wakefield, St Albans, Sheffield, Oxford, Edinburgh and Leicester.

Ticket holders were advised to contact Paypal or their credit or debit card provider.

Julian Pitts and Nick Reed from the insolvency firm Begbies Traynor were appointed to act as joint administrators to manage the company, after attempts to find a buyer for the trading title GinFestival.com failed earlier this week.

27 members of staff employed by the business will be made redundant as a result.

'Deep regret'

Directors Marie and Jym Harris said in a statement on the company website they had not taken the decision to go into administration lightly.

“It is with deep regret that we have had to take the decision to put the Gin Festival business into administration yesterday (Thursday 5th July 2018). We tried everything we could to rescue the business so that it would not come to this, but unfortunately, we have not been able to do so.

“We know this will be disappointing to you and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.

"We want to thank all our amazing customers/suppliers for their support over the years.

'5 years of hard work'

“After five years of hard work and passion, this was not a decision we have taken lightly and personally this will mean we lose our home and everything we have worked hard to build.

“We ask that you provide us with your compassion and understanding at this extremely difficult time for us.”

The business had struggled to cope financially after it made considerable investments in its online side, with in-house online ticket sales and a craft gin commercial service.