MORE than 1,400 music lovers have been refunded their ticket price after a festival near Bicester was cancelled.

A total of 3,000 were expected at the first Ox and Bucks Homegrown festival on August 15 to 17 in a field just outside the village of Chesterton, south of Bicester.

Organisers decided to cancel on Tuesday after they were told there was only a 50 per cent chance they would be granted a premises licence, at a Cherwell District Council meeting this Tuesday. This licence would have allowed them to sell alcohol and have loud music.

Organiser Len Readle said he was most worried about the impact Thames Valley Police safety concerns would have on the councillors’ decision.

The force objected to the licence application over concerns about potential crime and disorder and public safety. Some 250 performers in 73 bands have been told they cannot play and 11 stallholders will be refunded.

The festival would have been the first Oxfordshire version of the Homegrown franchise launched by promoter Glen Moulds in East Anglia last year.

Mr Readle, 49, who used to run the Angel pub in Bicester, said: “The Homegrown team and I are truly sorry the festival is cancelled, and we will ensure it will go ahead next year and we will make it up to you there.”

He said he would be left £12,600 out of pocket by the decision.

For more details, see hmfoxford.com

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