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12:00pm Friday 5th March 2010 in
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.”
Comments(18)
152
says...
12:32pm Fri 5 Mar 10
undertaker
says...
1:20pm Fri 5 Mar 10
mrslc wrote:No it would'nt we would have enjoyed it you miserable old hen.
Thank heavens for that, the noise and traffic pollution would be hellish for local residents.
DannyK86
says...
1:23pm Fri 5 Mar 10
essexboi1989
says...
4:04pm Fri 5 Mar 10
ukman
says...
4:17pm Fri 5 Mar 10
APR
says...
5:53pm Fri 5 Mar 10
ukman wrote:It was never goingt to happen, not at Barleylands anyway.
Pie in the sky event ?
Mary Lou
says...
7:11pm Fri 5 Mar 10
resident3
says...
7:35pm Fri 5 Mar 10
bazzo
says...
9:22pm Fri 5 Mar 10
APR
says...
10:41pm Fri 5 Mar 10
ConkerBonker
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8:36am Sat 6 Mar 10
APR
says...
10:14am Sun 7 Mar 10
Basvegas
says...
7:26am Mon 8 Mar 10
APR wrote:I work with the local scout group, we get free use of the show ground & lake all year round. I also know that St luke's get alot of support to from Barleylands too. Its a shame the festivals not happening here, beats being stuck in a que for V-fest!
The people who run Barleylands are very shrewd business men. They don't let any events take place unless they stand to make a big profit. Some years ago, a club I belong to wanted to do an event for charity. They wanted us to put a huge amount of money up front, and wanted half of any profit, ie the money which would have gone to charity.
Brentwood
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10:15am Mon 8 Mar 10
richomack360
says...
12:59pm Mon 8 Mar 10
susie65
says...
8:59am Tue 9 Mar 10
maverick23
says...
7:08pm Tue 16 Mar 10
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mrslc says...
12:13pm Fri 5 Mar 10