THE organisers of the cancelled comedy festival and nineties music festival have revealed why these events have been pulled.

It has also come to light why their company, Tiki Events Ltd, has been placed into liquidation. 

The Journal revealed earlier today that the two events, believed to be taking place on July 30 and 31, were no longer going ahead.

Nathan Muirhead and Chantelle Strong, former directors of Tiki Events, said they were "deeply saddend" to announce these cancellations.

They said the company had been put in a "challenging financial position" during the winter months, giving it "no choice but to close" in February of this year.

'Income affected by government guidelines'

Postponing the two events, originally planned for August last year due to "a lack of government direction surrounding larger scale events", the pair told the Journal they had wanted to focus on smaller events during the summer and autumn last year.

Despite this, the business was unable to generate enough income this way.

Talking about the lead up to Tiki Events closing, Mr Muirhead and Ms Strong said: "In October we decided to pause activity with a view to relaunch Salisbury Comedy Festival and Origin Festival in spring.

"Unfortunately our plans to maintain a steady income over Christmas were impacted by a shift in government guidelines where the public was encouraged to avoid the hospitality sector.

"This had a such a profound impact on our income stream that we had no choice but to close the business."

11 months of business

They added: "Since the business formed in April 2021, we have always sought to deliver high quality events within the ever-changing boundaries of Covid rules and guidelines.

"We employed a committed and skilled team to support our vision and they worked exceptionally hard to create some very exciting events which regrettably did not materialise or achieve the revenue needed."

Mr Muirhead and Ms Strong said they "did their absolute best to deliver something positive for Salisbury, at a time when the hospitality and event sectors were under immense strain."

'We will be held to account'

"As directors, we are responsible for the actions of the company and we will be held to account through the insolvency process," the pair added.

"Be assured that there was no wrongdoing, corruption or scam. Speculation of misappropriation of funds is unfounded and only seeks to discredit and defame.

"Despite opinions to the contrary, directors invested considerable energy, time and money into this and other businesses with little tangible return."

'Threatening and defamatory comments'

In the lead up to the events being cancelled, ticket buyers raised concerns and confusion on social media.

Responding to some of these messages, the former directors said: "Over the last 48 hours we have been made aware of threatening and defamatory comments, and family members being approached.

"We do not support such actions and ask that the public allow the insolvency process to be followed."

They added that information for festival ticket holders will be released "in due course".

Time to remedy a 'challenging situation'

"We sincerely apologise to ticket holders and all those involved in the planning and delivery of our events. This is not the outcome we had hoped for.

"We will cooperate fully with the insolvency practitioner and do all we can to remedy this challenging situation."

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