Glastonbury Festival: Huge debts of collapsed glamping firm revealed
The huge debts racked up by a luxury Glastonbury Festival glamping company before it collapsed last month have been revealed.
Yurtel, which is based in Corsham, Wiltshire, went into liquidation in May, leaving a number of Glastonbury glampers ticketless and out of pocket.
The business had charged between £10,000 and £16,500 for its hospitality tickets and accommodation packages for this year’s festival.
However, Yurtel confirmed last month that bookings would not be fulfilled and it ceased trading on 8 May.
Now a new document filed with Companies House has revealed how much the business owed as it collapsed.
According to the report filed by Begbies Traynor, Yurtel had more than £2.1m-worth of unsecured, non-preferential clams against it from consumer creditors.
Set against the assets that can be sold to fund its debts, the company is estimated to have a total deficiency of over £1.7m.
Glastonbury yurt firm ‘can’t repay money’
Last month, the BBC reported that Yurtel, in an email sent to customers, said that accommodation booked with it would not be available and advised people to go with another provider.
The company added that the money customers had paid “cannot be refunded”.
In a statement issued at the time, Glastonbury Festival said Yurtel was one of a small number of campsites local to Worthy Farm and had limited access to purchase hospitality tickets for their guests.
It added: “As such we have no records of their bookings and are unable to take any responsibility for the services and the facilities they offer.”
However, Glastonbury Festival said the company had not paid for any tickets for the 2025 event – which starts later this month.
Glastonbury Festival said: “Anyone who has paid Yurtel for a package including Glastonbury 2025 tickets will need to pursue any potential recompense available from them via the liquidation process as outlined in their communication to you.
“We are not able to incur the cost or responsibility of their loss or replacement.”