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Chillfest owed £1.2 million prior to liquidation
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 4 November 2009
So, Music Week have been digging into the collapse of Chillfest Ltd, the company behind the Big Chill festival. As previously reported, the company went into voluntary liquidation last month after a couple of difficult years for the famous festival. The event itself, though, is safe, the name and basic concept having been bought before the liquidation by Festival Republic, who have hired Big Chill co-founder Katrina Larkin to head up future editions of the festival. The Big Chill venues were never part of the Chillfest operation, being run by the Cantaloupe Group, who had been providing some financial backing to the festival promoter.
According to the trade mag, Chillfest had debts close to £1.2 million when it collapsed. The financial woes began in 2007, which was perhaps behind the festival’s other co-founder Pete Lawrence’s decision to leave the company in 2008. The following two year’s festivals also operated at a loss, leading up to last month’s liquidation, which the firm’s board blamed on “the general economic downturn and customers not purchasing sufficient numbers of tickets”. Damn those pesky customers and their not buying sufficient numbers of tickets.
It’s believed 33 creditors were owed money at the time of the liquidation, including the tax man, Show Events Security, Power Logistics and West Mercia Police. PRS For Music were among the largest creditors, being owed a reported sixty grand for unpaid royalty bills.
Presumably the all new Big Chill enterprise hopes to re-secure the services of some of those who lost out in the liquidation thanks the backing of major player Festival Republic. The hope also, presumably, is for customers to buy sufficient tickets moving forward to make the festival the profitable concern it was back in its hey day.
