The cost of living crisis has been citied as one of a number of factors which has caused the demise of a much-loved festival on Dartmoor.
Chagstock Festival is set in farmland in Whiddon Down, a short distance from Chagford, and for more than a decade it has played host to a stunning array of bands and musicians, including Squeeze, The Waterboys, Fun Loving Criminals, Ash, Kula Shaker, Seasick Steve, The Stranglers, Soul II Soul, Lightning Seeds, The Boomtown Rats, Dr Feelgood, Billy Bragg, Donovan, The Blockheads, Wildwood Kin, Levellers, New Model Army, Seth Lakeman and Imelda May.
The festival, set to take place on July 21 and 22 this year, was set to return with headliners Maximo Park and Hollywood actor Kiefer Sutherland, along with a slew of other bands including The Eskies, New Crisis and The Fireblockers, Revelation Roots and True Strays.
Just a few years ago it was dubbed "the best little festival in the South West", according to comedian and musician Adrian Edmondson, who has a house in Devon and performed with his band The Bad Shepherds at Chagstock in 2010.
However, ticket holders were alerted today to the sad news that the event has now been cancelled. At this stage ticket holders have not yet been informed whether their payments will be returned or held over until next year.
Festival organiser Simon Ford said: "It is with deep deep regret and huge sadness that I have to cancel Chagstock. The struggle to catch up after missing a year due to COVID combined with increased competition, escalating costs, the cost of living crisis and lower than expected ticket sales, make it impossible to continue with the event.
"I can only apologise for any inconvenience and disappointment, the decision was not made lightly. After 16 years it is heart breaking to have to call time, this is not how I wanted to end things.
"I know this will generate many comments and questions and we may not be able to respond to all of them, please bear with us."
One Chagstock fan told PlymouthLive: "I've been going for years and it's always a brilliant little festival - good music, good food and good drink. It's not commercialised like the other festivals and it's got a lovely feel to it - and it's much more reasonably priced than the monster festivals like Glastonbury or Reading where you need a mortgage to afford them. I already bought two 'super early bird' tickets for £89 each, but I've no idea what's going to happen now."
In recent weeks a number of festival organisers have announced they have no choice but to cancel their events. The English Riviera Food and Music Festival was due to take place at Torre Abbey Meadows in Torquay from May 26 to 29 and has now been called off. Last month the organisers behind Plymouth's 1 Big Summer festival also cancelled, citing the cost of living crisis as the cause.
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