A GIN festival that was set to attract hundreds of people to a Hampshire town has been cancelled.

The much anticipated event, set to take place today at Crosfield Hall, Romsey, had to be cancelled.

This was confirmed by the organiser Aly Target, director and owner of The Gin Stall,

She said: “We wanted to sell 250 tickets for each of the two sessions that we were running throughout the day but we only sold 100 tickets in total.”

Ally said that she was “really surprised” that the event didn’t attract more people.

She added: “I don’t know if its because people are coming off coming into the town due to all of the work that is going on.”

She described cancelling the event as a “real shame” and added: “I would like to try doing the event in Romsey in the future but I would approach it differently and do some research beforehand.

“I would also maybe look at doing it at a different time of year.”

The festival was due to showcase more than 50 different gins as well as distillers, live music and food stalls.

Aly Targett from Andover began holding gin festivals across the South East last year.

Despite the cancellation of the Romsey festival she said the festivals she held last year were “a big success” and that she was “overwhelmed.”

Romsey Town Centre manager Mark Edgerley added: “It is unfortunate that it has been cancelled as they worked really hard to promote it.

“It is nothing to do with the event. I think people are reluctant to buy tickets for anything due to national politics.

“There is a lack of confidence to spend at the moment.”