´óÏó´«Ã½

Hundreds of bottles of gin have gone under the hammer after a firm organising festivals went into administration.

Gin Festival Limited had sold 20,000 tickets to gin lovers across Britain but all events have been cancelled.

Earlier, 1,200 bottles of craft gin worth £50,000 went under the hammer with no reserve in Scunthorpe.

Auctioneers Eddisons CJM said thousands of bottles of mixers were also sold off.

Director Paul Cooper said: "We have divided most of the gins into practical lots of two to six bottles so that members of the public can get involved in the bidding, as well as trade buyers.

"Everything in the auction is being sold without reserve, so it makes what it makes.

"We're also auctioning huge quantities of mixers. We reckon we have something over 7,000 bottles of those so they are obviously being sold in larger lots."

Sheffield Gin Festival, which was scheduled to take place at Kelham Island on 21-22 September was called off, along with 19 other festivals planned for Edinburgh, Wakefield, Liverpool, Leicester, Birmingham, Worcester, Oxford, Norwich, Portsmouth and elsewhere.

Some 20,000 advance tickets had been sold for the events and buyers are advised to contact Paypal or their credit or debit card providers to check if they are covered for their loss.

The auction extended to more than 350 lots. The online sale closed at 18:00 BST.