Trader shares bleak reality of how much money he lost at farm festival headlined by Jeremy Clarkson

A farming event headlined by Jeremy Clarkson allegedly turned out to be a Fyre Festival of the agricultural world for vendors looking to promote their work.

The bank holiday weekend saw Warwickshire's Stoneleigh Park host the Great British Farm-Fest, with more than 55,000 people attending the 'rock and roll farming event' which blended the UK's agricultural industry with live performances from Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Blur's Alex James.

Show director Chris Hughes told Farmers Weekly it was 'probably the largest new festival in Britain this year'.

However, not everybody in attendance was left feeling like a happy camper, with several traders taking to social media to complain about poor management.

One such trader to speak out about their experience is David Moore, owner of Wee Dram Barrel Creations.

Taking to TikTok to share his experience after completing an 'eight-hour drive' from Warwickshire to Port William in Scotland, David explained that he'd lost thousands of pounds by attending the event.

"The big question is, was it worth it?" he told his followers. "The short answer: absolutely not."

David went on to claim the organisation of the event had been 'absolutely atrocious', with a lack of proper signage and poorly made maps making it difficult to navigate. He also slammed the decision for the festival to run Friday to Sunday when there was a bank holiday Monday.

"There were [around] 300 traders, and I can almost certainly guarantee that most of them haven't made their money back," he said. "It's cost us over £2,000 for this weekend."

David also pointed out that it wasn't just money the company lost, but time as well.

"We loaded the van up on Tuesday, and we're back on Monday, unload the van on Tuesday. That's going to be eight days," he continued.

"Eight days of work and we sold nothing. It's been a complete and utter waste of time.

"Traders were leaving left, right and centre on the second day because they'd had enough. It wasn't worth their while."

"I feel sorry for all the staff who were there because they were just getting hammered by the traders," he added. "It was not a very well-organised event at all.

"It was not worth it. Not worth it one little bit."

While Dave acknowledged that anyone attending for the 'Jeremy Clarkson experience' will have had an enjoyable time, the biggest thing for him was a misunderstanding over what the focus of the festival would be.

"The biggest problem was that it was a music festival, not an agricultural festival," he said. "So we've been misold."

He said he'd asked the organisers for a refund, but doubted he'd get one.

Although vendors left the festival wanting, the event appears to have been a huge hit with punters leaving rave reviews on Farm-Fest's social media pages.

"We had the best time at our stand and over the weekend, thank you," wrote one person, while a second person wrote: "It’s deeply saddening to see people publicly ripping into the organisers when so many people worked incredibly hard to make the event happen."

"The very best of days out, what an amazing weekend," added a third.

What have other traders said about The Great British Farm-Fest?

Korrine Pallas, Phoenix Equestrian and Pet Supplies

Korrine left Farm-Fest a day early, explaining: "It has been catastrophic for us, and when you are already a small family business in hard times, it is heart-wrenching.

"We're a few grand down. With wages, with fuel, with van hire, it's £400 to come tomorrow, and I haven't even made that in the last couple of days. Nowhere f**kng near in fact."

Emma, Pops and Coco

Emma, who runs a dog walking brand and had to drive four hours to get to Farm-Fest, complained: "What a shambles. Giving new meaning to 'diddly squat'.

"I would say 90 percent of traders across the whole showground, whatever they are selling, have either made a loss and they haven't made their costs back or they are only just making some money now.

"To come to a three-day event like this, which has been heavily advertised on social media, to walk away at a loss is incredible really."

She said the scorching heat may have affected sales, since many dog owners would have chosen to leave their animals at home. She claims her stall was also 'chucked in a corner' of the festival, and there was poor signage.

Emily, BayCo Designs

Writing on Instagram, the personalised pet embroidery business said: "In all honesty, I couldn't be more devastated.

"There was little to no advertisement of a shopping area. Which is what was pitched to us on booking.

"There was a map of the venue, but I found a lot of customers asking me for directions as things were unclear and no signage in the grounds directing you to the areas."

Julie Masters, Masters Saddles

Julie said: "A very expensive mistake setting up and investing resources. Photos show the main shopping aisle and then us, blocked by a lorry.

"We asked several times for the lorry to be moved but no joy. We are thousands of pounds out pocket and they won’t give us a refund either."