A CHARITY music festival due to be held at a moorland pub above Keighley has been cancelled.

The inaugural Moorfest 15 was to take place in a field at The Three Acres on July 11 and 12.

But organisers have been forced to pull the plug on the event, owing to licence issues and poor ticket sales.

Nearly 40 acts were lined up to play at the festival, proceeds from which were to be split between Oxenhope Sue Ryder hospice Manorlands and Target Ovarian Cancer.

Mark Hudson – who runs the pub and restaurant, formerly Quarry House, in Bingley Road, Lees Moor – said: "A lot of work had gone into organising the event, but due to a combination of things we have had no alternative but to cancel.

"We are bitterly disappointed, most of all for the fantastic charities that would have benefited.

"Anyone who had bought tickets is being offered a full refund."

He said the council elections in May and an issue raised by a neighbour had delayed a decision on an application for a licence to use the field.

The application is to be considered by Bradford Council's licensing committee tomorrow.

"We're still going ahead with the application so we can hopefully hold future events, but the timing of the meeting would have left just a week or so until the festival and we couldn't risk leaving it so close to cancel if there was a problem," added Mr Hudson.

"We had the public safety liaison group round a few weeks ago and it was happy with everything, but due to the elections, there was no licensing committee to look at the application."

He said despite the disappointment of having to cancel, he had not been deterred from holding the event in the future and raising money for charity.

"We've put together a committee, and if the licence is approved, will start planning for next year almost straight away," he said.

"We know people who were intending to come along next weekend will be disappointed at the cancellation, but we've had a lot of positive comments and support on Facebook, which is appreciated."

Sue Croston, who was due to collect at the festival for the ovarian cancer charity, said she shared the disappointment.

"I feel for Mark because he'd put so much time and effort into it," she said.

"However, this is not going to stop us holding other events for Target Ovarian Cancer and Manorlands."