A major Kent music festival has been cancelled over fears that it will lose money.

Clubclass Music Management has decided to pull the plug on this year's Electric Gardens due to the strong competition posed by three other events taking place in the county this year.

The two-day event has been held for the past two years at Mount Ephraim Gardens, Hernhill, near Canterbury, and last year attracted 12,000 people.

Head of events at Clubclass, Jeff Gray, said: "There are three other big music festivals happening in Kent this year - Radio One’s Big Weekend in Mote Park, the Hop Farm Festival at Paddock Wood, and Zoo Thousand and Eight at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park.

"Because of the capacity limitations of Mount Ephraim - we are limited to about 8,000 people each day - we would be going into the festival with a line-up not as strong as these other events.

“Because we simply can’t compete with these other festivals, to put on Electric Gardens this year would be a huge financial risk for everyone involved.

"It is unfortunate but we are not prepared to take that gamble.”

Last year, Electric Gardens featured more than 50 acts across four stages, including Supergrass, the Happy Mondays and Brit award winner Kate Nash.

Mr Gray said: “It is a shame. Last year was a huge success and the feedback we had was overwhelming, but we can’t take a huge financial risk with it.”