The organisers of Millport's Country Music Festival have been forced to pull the plug on the spectacular event over rising financial costs.


The stunning showcase attracted the cream of country music from both sides of the Atlantic including a string of top U.S acts including Drake White, Sunny Sweeney and Candi Carpenter to name just a few.

The railway strike took a hit on finances at this year's festival on the main Saturday which had a significant impact on ticket sales.
A spokesperson said: "Following a review taking on board the financial and economic factors going forward, we have decided not to progress with the planning for the festival in 2023.
"We have looked at a number of different scenarios and all the variations and formats to try and make them work but the prerequisite was always to keep the high quality of the event going forward and we felt given the factors that are now against us we couldn't bring that forward in a manner that is viable."

Organisers say that they are taking a step back from running a festival of its size but hoped to host smaller scale events on the island in future.