UK gin festival organiser enters administration

A gin festival organiser has gone into administration, resulting in the cancellation of 20 events across the UK.

Gin Festival Limited has entered administration

West Yorkshire-based Gin Festival Limited released a statement on Friday (6 July), confirming that the firm had gone into administration on 5 July.

“As a result of the company entering administration, all of its operations ceased with immediate effect. All events run by the company have been cancelled,” a statement published on the company’s Facebook page said.

The firm had gin festivals planned for Sandown, Worcester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Lincoln, Portsmouth, London, Wakefield, St Albans, Sheffield, Oxford, Edinburgh and Leicester. Gin Festival Norwich, which was scheduled to take place last weekend (6-8 July), was also cancelled.

Gin Festival Limited’s 27 members of staff will be made redundant.

Julian Pitts and Nicholas Reed of Begbies Traynor have been appointed as joint administrators.

The company faced financial problems after it “invested heavily in expanding its online presence”. The firm increased its “financial burden” after attempting to bring online ticket sales in house and setting up an e-commerce operation to sell ‘craft’ gins.

Gin Festival Limited directors, Marie and Jym Harris, said they had “tried everything” to salvage the business.

“We know this will be disappointing to you and we apologise for any inconvenience caused,” they said on Facebook.

“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 may be able to provide us with your compassion and understanding at this extremely difficult time for us.”

Pitts said that around 20,000 tickets had been sold for upcoming events and “will not be reimbursed as part of the administration process”.

He said: “Anyone who has purchased tickets for any of the events organised by ginfestival.com would be best advised to check with their credit or debit card provider as to whether they may be covered for the loss under the chargeback system.

“Our aim was, of course, to find a purchaser for the business as a going concern in order to safeguard the jobs, but unfortunately, despite our efforts, this did not prove possible.

“We are now in the process of realising what assets we can in order to achieve the best possible returns for creditors.”