A WAR of words has erupted after dozens of people were left disappointed by a new festive event.

Cheshire Showground had been scheduled to host a huge new Christmas event this year, organised by Killer Kween Productions (KKP).

At the centre of the event was a light maze, run by Access Events.

However, just days after launching, the event has been shut down, with Access Events and KKP disagreeing about the exact reason for this.

Naomi Petrou-Brown, founder of KKP, said Access ‘failed to produce what was promised’, claiming the company approached Cheshire Showground earlier this year offering a light trail that would attract 100,000 people over a month’s period.

She says the rest of the event, which includes market stalls and a drive-in cinema, was built around this.

The maze was due to open on November 25 before being pushed back to November 28, and then again to November 29.

As result of these delays, KKP decided to scale back the market until they knew that the light maze would bring in enough footfall.

Naomi added that right up until opening day Access continued to provide assurance that ticket sales were high, when in fact they had only sold 800 for the entire month.

The maze eventually opened on Friday, November 29.

“The reviews immediately were awful, people complained and demanded their money back – I believe these people were offered a free ticket to come back at a later date,” Naomi said.

“Late Saturday afternoon (November 30) we learned Access Events had said they were going to close the maze and put the company into administration as their ticket sales had been so poor and there had been so many complaints.

“We had to take the hard decision to close the whole event as the main attraction fell well below expected standards, leaving traders wanting to move to other markets and events at the busy Christmas period.”

Access Events meanwhile claim that they were guaranteed the event would have 250 market stalls and footfall of 10,000 people over the period.

However, they say that after setting up the maze they found only 18 of the 250 stalls promised and that all of the visitors, around half of what was expected, were drawn in by the maze.

With regards to the maze itself, Access Events say some installations had to be scrapped due to the deep mud caused by recent weather, adding that they reduced tickets to £10.

A spokesperson added: “We are heartbroken and devastated as a team that we had to do this but without the footfall promised, we simply could not afford to remain running and more importantly we do not want our visitors to arrive and only have the maze to complete and not have any other associated traders, rides or markets.”

Other elements of Christmas at Cheshire Showground in Tabley are due to go ahead, including the drive-in cinema.

The latest post on the event’s Facebook page reads: “We're currently putting our creative hats on to reimagine the Christmas experience at the Showground.

“Stay tuned for exciting updates on our revised Christmas plans! We can't wait to celebrate the festive season with you all.”

On Monday (December 2), Cheshire Agricultural Society released the following statement: "We'd like to let you know that not all events held on the Cheshire County Showground are associated with the Royal Cheshire County Show.

"Events connected to us will always be clearly marked as organised by either the Cheshire Agricultural Society or the Royal Cheshire County Show.

"For all of our external events please visit the Cheshire County Showground page.

"If you have any questions or need further information, we're always here to help-just get in touch!

"Thank you for your continued support."