Hop Farm Festival is set to return next summer, despite being called off this year because of poor ticket sales and going into administration following the 2012 event.
Kent Online reports that the festival will be run by a new promoter, thought to be Flashback Festival‘s Neil Butkeratis. The festival’s head of marketing, Miguel Fenton, stated: “The event is going ahead, which is great news. There will be a fresh approach under a new promoter.” A spokesperson for UK Events added: “It will be more of a boutique festival with a new promoter and line-up.” It will staged over the weekend of 4-6 July 2014 and cater for 20,000 punters.
This summer’s Hop Farm Festival was cancelled, with organisers blaming poor ticket sales and the economy. My Bloody Valentine and Rodriguez were due to headline the festival with The Horrors, The Cribs and Dinosaur Jr also set to perform. Organiser Vince Power stated that a lack of interest in the event made it untenable. He commented:
“We have worked very hard to try to make it work but it has proved too much of a mountain to climb and despite fighting hard, circumstances are such that based on poor ticket sales and the forecast selling rate substantial losses would be made”.
Hop Farm Festival was due to take place in Paddock Wood, Kent this July. Earlier this year, Vince Power responded to reports that the festival, went into administration last year owing its 2012 headliners thousands of pounds.
Power responded in a statement issued to NME, saying: “The Hop Farm will happen this year, this is one blip in my career spanning over 30 years. All suppliers and artists are working with me and many of the suppliers have been with me for many years, through the Reading, Phoenix and Homelands days. They are being very supportive. I spent and paid artists alone approx £350 million over the years. The losses reported are inaccurate. The Hop Farm never lost £4.8 million. These losses included a group of companies in Kent Festival Ltd.”