Ticket holders for a gin festival cancelled at short notice will not be reimbursed after organisers were placed into administration.
Gin Festival was due to be held at St Andrew's Hall in Norwich from Friday, July 6 to Sunday, July 8.
But on Thursday night an email was sent to ticket holders stating the event had been cancelled.
It has now be confirmed that Gin Festival Limited, which was trading as GinFestival.com, was placed into administration on Thursday.
Attempts had previously been made to market the company with the aim of finding a buyer but no offers have been forthcoming and a closure administration has taken immediate effect.
As a result, all 27 members of staff employed by the business will be made redundant and the entire programme of 20 gin festivals planned for the coming months have been cancelled - including this weekend's festival in Norwich, which was sold out for three out of the four planned sessions.
The company will not be in a position to reimburse anybody who bought advance tickets for the event, or any of their other festivals organised across the country.
GinFestival.com, which was established in 2013, encountered financial difficulties after it invested heavily in expanding its online presence.
Insolvency practitioners from Begbies Traynor have been appointed as administrators to the company.
Julian Pitts from Begbies Traynor said: 'It's a huge shame that Gin Festival.com has been placed in administration. The loss of jobs is always extremely disappointing and in this case approximately 20,000 tickets have also been sold for forthcoming events which will not be reimbursed as part of the administration process.
'Anyone who has purchased tickets for any of the events organised by GinFestival.com would be best advised to check with their credit or debit card provider as to whether they may be covered for the loss under the chargeback system.
'Our aim was, of course, to find a purchaser for the business as a going concern in order to safeguard the jobs, but unfortunately, despite our efforts, this did not prove possible.
'We are now in the process of realising what assets we can in order to achieve the best possible returns for creditors.'
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