by Andy Gray

agray@thekmgroup.co.uk

Hop Farm Festival bosses have retaliated to rumours the curtain is about to come down on Kent’s biggest music extravaganza.

A spokesman for Music Festivals Group said next year’s event is still going ahead despite its widely-reported financial problems.

Shares in the group, which is run by music impresario Vince Power, the curator of Hop Farm Festival and the Spain-based Benicassim, were suspended recently.

It had failed to find potential investors and was preparing to call in administrators, leading to fears this year’s Paddock Wood-based event would be the last.

But a glance at the Hop Farm Festival website showed discounted early bird tickets for next year’s show were still available to buy.

And according to a Music Festivals Group spokesman, a “wish-list” of acts has already been drawn-up for 2013.

She said: “The festival has not been cancelled - it’s still going ahead.

Shares in its parent company have been suspended, but right now the Hop Farm has not been affected.”

A wet summer and an overcrowded festival market were reportedly to blame for the group’s dwindling stockmarket value.

This year’s Hop Farm Festival, headlined by Bob Dylan, was not a sell-out despite the nation’s main outdoor music event, Glastonbury, taking the summer off.

High ticket prices during the continuing economic downturn are also thought to have hit attendances, with a three-day pass for the Hop Farm costing about £150.

Although the spokesman said this year’s event, which included a festival debut by Sir Bruce Forsyth, attracted up to 30,000 fans per day.

“It wasn’t a sell-out, but we still had a good amount of people,” she said.
Fans were still being urged to buy early bird tickets and full refunds would be given if the situation changed.

“But talk of refunds isn’t even on the agenda - it’s business as usual,” the spokesman added.

This year’s Hop Farm Festival was the fifth to be held at the Beltring site.

It prides itself on its “no branding, no sponsorship” and as well as hosting two headline performances by Bob Dylan, it was the stage for a spectacular greatest hits performance from Prince in 2010.

It was the US superstar’s only UK show that year.