A music festival planned in one of Bolton's most picturesque locations has had to be cancelled due to a lack of ticket sales.
Rivington Festival was billed as one of this year's highlights at Rivington Terraced Gardens.
It also doubled up as an important fundraiser for Rivington Heritage Trust - the charity that maintains the historic gardens.
Music events in the past have raise around £20,000 for the charity, but having sold only around 740 tickets compared to the normal 2,000, the Trust was looking at a loss of approximately £13,500.
Heritage Programmes Manager, Andrew Suter, explained that there came a point, about 10 days before the fesitval was scheduled to happen, when decisions about irreversible outgoings, such as building stages, had to be made.
With a seeming lack of interested reflected by the ticket sales, the Trust felt there was no option other than to take the difficult decision to cancel the event.
Mr Suter said: "It's really, really disappointing.
"In previous years we’ve sold about 2,000 tickets, most of which went in the first 48 hours, and this year we’ve only sold about 740."
This year's event to take place next weekend had promised a bigger and better line up than ever before, with big name acts such as Toploader and Republica.
Despite that, Andrew says the ticket prices had not dramatically increased, rising from £12 to £15 this time around.
"I’m not sure whether it’s a Covid hangover or it’s to do with cost-of-living, but the Trust can’t risk it," Andrew said.
"It’s horrible all round. The Trust is really going to struggle – this, along with the Philharmonic that was a great success and the festive of light in October, is one of the main events of the year.
"Volunteers and staff have put in hundreds and hundreds of hours of work. We had licencing sorted, police on board and Bolton Mountain Rescue Team – so many people combined to making it a success.
"It’s a real kick in the teeth, to be honest."
Last year's music festival was cancelled because of Covid.
Andrew said:"I don’t think we’ll be able to run it next year, having cancelled two years in a row, if we’re not confident it will go ahead."
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