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Guilfest Owed £317,000
The UK’s Guilfest went down owing creditors £317,000, according to public documents.
It’s the second time in three years that the festival was unable to cover its expenses, with 2012 costing creditors £300,000. This time around, liquidator Leigh Adams revealed that the hardest hit included Beerfest (£36,980), Abinger Marquee Hire (£24,492), Jigsaw Promotions (21,660), The Powerline (£26,574) and HM Customs and Excise, which has outstanding VAT totaling £18,834.
The local Guildford Borough Council is down by £2,808, even though it gave Guilfest the go-ahead on condition that it paid all of the site hire fee in advance.
The council lost £60,000 over the festival’s 2012 bankruptcy. The affected acts include The Enemy (£14,100), Kool & The Gang (£9,580), Gallows (£2,800) and Shane Richie (£1,200).
After the 2012 bankruptcy, Surrey businessman Tony Scott brought back the festival as a result of popular demand. He says one of the main problems was a report predicting wet weather, which apparently reduced the expected crowd size by 2,000 to 3,000. Weekend camping tickets cost £120.
The Guildford three-dayer ran July 18-20 with a lineup that also included The Boomtown Rats, and Katrina Leskanich.