Nicola MacdonaldHeavy metal festival Temples Festival, due to be held on 3-5 June at Bristolian venue Motion, has been cancelled after a loss of financial backing.
Francis Mace, who launched and ran the festival, released a statement saying that fans would get a full refund.
Mace revealed that since launching the festival he had lost around £70,000, saying: “After an arduous 48-hours of uncertainty, and with deepest reluctance, we have been forced to cancel Temples Festival 2016.
“At the beginning of last week, the organisation we had onboard to finance the event pulled their funding, and with limited access to advance ticket sales and no sponsors to back us we have been unable to source the funding required to cover the overheads which would allow Temples Festival to go ahead.
“Following Temples 2015, we were left with a sizeable debt and as opposed to dissolving the company and declaring bankruptcy, I decided to take on the debts personally and subsequently pay off all our creditors in instalments as quickly as possible. This meant bands, staff and contractors were all paid late, and it’s had a crippling effect on both my professional and personal life as a whole. Truth be told, I made a series of bad business decisions and dealt with the situation very poorly, which I take full accountability for.
“I am deeply, deeply sorry to all of those who will lose out as a result of this decision, having put three years of my life and having already lost so much of it to the festival, I’m afraid there is no option to continue with Temples Festival 2016 and I take full responsibility for events cancellation. I am truly sorry.”