Ampthill Festival - which previously played host to McFly - enters voluntary liquidation

Ampthill Festival CIC – the company responsible for AmpRocks – has entered voluntary liquidation.

The festival – which donated revenue and sponsorship to charities and good causes from each event – had expanded to include AmpProms and AmpGala. With AmpRocks, the event had even staged McFly and Clean Bandit.

The 2022 festival – which was set to include James Bay – was cancelled due to soaring costs and Covid though a separate gala evening for the community was held.

Then in 2023, the Bedford Park concerts – hosted by LiveNation – moved to the same weekend Ampthill Festival traditionally runs. And according to the info given to Ampthill Festival CIC’s creditors, it felt it couldn’t compete head-to-head, so moved its event later to July.

However, ticket sales were poor which the company said was “primarily due to the bad weather and the recent LiveNation concert”.

It was so windy on the Saturday night, AmpProms had to be cancelled with toilets being blown across the site and branches coming down.

In a letter sent to all creditors, it said: “Refund requests totalled £6,489.33. With insufficient cash at the bank and no means of raising any further revenue the company was left in the unfortunate position of not being able to process the refunds.”

In a statement, Ampthill Festival CIC said: “The festival volunteer team who have dedicated many years, in some cases over 10 years, to its success, are all devastated by this.

“The adverse weather on the festival weekend led to the cancellation of AmpProms for safety of the attendees and performers as well as the unusually cold and wet AmpRocks evening and AmpGala afternoon had a direct impact on the success of the weekend.

“The festival runs entirely on ticket sales and the support of local sponsors as well as revenue generated over the weekend. As such, both cancellation of AmpProms and poor gate sales of AmpRocks and AmpGala music arena, have ultimately lead [sic] to the festival being unable to cover costs and be solvent to continue into 2024.”

Ampthill Festival CIC ceased trading in November and it’s believed between £48,000 and £58,500 is owed to approximately 570 known ticket holders with the company £86,000 in debt.

The winding-up process is being handled by Strong Anderson, which has already contacted all creditors, including ticket holders. If you believe you have been inadvertently overlooked email [email protected].