Beachdown Festival has been cancelled just days before it was due to open its gates.

The directors posted an emotional message on the Beachdown Festival website shortly after midnight announcing the cancellation, and pledging to do all they can to keep ticketholders informed.

Blaming poor ticket sales and a lack of support from their bank and some suppliers, they said they had even considered remortgaging their houses to keep the event afloat, but to no avail.

UPDATE: Click here to read our exclusive interview with Beachdown boss Joe Pidgeon.

The statement reads: “It is with immense personal regret that the Directors of Beachdown Festival have been advised that they must announce that due to slower than forecast ticket-sales and lack of support at a critical time from our bank and certain suppliers that despite being so so close to being able to deliver Beachdown Festival we are unable to do so.

“Very simply we were unable to meet the demands that the current economic climate put against us and at the eleventh hour despite having most of the infrastructure in place we have been forced to cancel the event.

“We wish to say at this time how desperately sorry we are to all those who have bought tickets or were participating in the event and to say that we all here are personally shattered expecially [sic] after eleven months of battling against the recession to try and put this event on and coming so close.

“We also wish to advise everyone that we explored every possible avenue to finance the event including re-mortgaging our houses to combat the unwillingness of banks to support us.

“We will do everything in our power to give the best information that we can via the web-site and via email but we ask that people understand that we will also be inundated with enquiries but we will endeavour to communicate to everyone as best we can.

“We ask all ticket-holders to get information from the outlet that you purchased the ticket from in the first instance and once again we will do everything we can to get as much information as we can to everyone as quickly as we can.”

Since the news broke, many festival-goers have said they intend on going to the site anyway, but Sussex Police this afternoon warned them not to.

A spokesman said: "We understand from the organisers' website that the Beachdown Festival scheduled for this weekend has been cancelled and we are in the process of establishing with them that this is the case. If so, we will work with them to ensure a safe closure at the location.

"We urge anyone with tickets for the event not to turn up. Security teams and police will remain at the site over the weekend and there will be no access or unofficial event."

This year’s festival, at which Grace Jones, The Zutons and Super Furry Animals were billed to play, has been dogged with problems since the start, with nearly 100 strict conditions imposed by Mid Sussex District Council when granting its licence.

In April, the organisers pulled out of hosting Brighton Festival Fringe at the Sundown Show Bar, which they also ran, due to their sponsor jumping ship and spiralling costs.

The news will come as a double whammy of festival gloom for people who had were given tickets as an alternative by organisers of the Bloom Festival in Chepstow, which was cancelled earlier this month.

This is not the first Sussex music festival to fall victim to the recession this year.

In January, organisers of the Lewes Folk Rock Festival, which is one of the town’s major cultural events, announced it would not go ahead this year for the first time since it began in 2002.

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