A FOUR-DAY music festival for up to 120,000 revellers in Billericay looks unlikely to go ahead, after the host venue pulled out.

It seems ifestlive will not happen after bosses of Barley-lands showground said they were no longer interested.

Last week Phil Hutchinson, 19, who lives in Billericay, said his company, PH Productions, wanted to stage the event between July 1 and July 4 next year.

Phil Burrows, commercial manager at Barleylands, said: “PH Productions made preliminary inquiries regarding hiring our venue for a festival. But, after further investigations, we have spoken to them and agreed the ifestlive will not be going ahead at Barleylands.”

Mr Hutchinson said his company had been working with former V Festival planner Tony Wheeler on bringing the event to Billericay.

Mr Wheeler, now a production manager for events management company Nine Yards, said: “We’re not involved in that. I had a brief conversation with that young man a couple of years ago and know nothing about it.”

The Echo tried, several times, to call Mr Hutchinson, who claimed to be a millionnaire, but he did not return our calls.

Meanwhile, neither Basildon Council nor Billericay Town Council have seen any plans or licensing applications for the event.

Ticket companies Ticket-master and Essex Live said they were due to start selling tickets for the event tomorrow.

Jon Wiffen, a spokesman for Ticketmaster, and David Eve, managing director of Essex Live, vowed to offer a full refund to customers if the event was cancelled.

However, Jim Devlin, vice chairman of Billericay town council, said he would not advise people to buy tickets until licensing had been formally approved and a line-up confirmed.

He said: “I think buyers have to beware.”