Tickets for the Rolling Thunder Festival went on sale on Wednesday, with the festival’s location playing a prominent part in the advertising, despite no contractual agreement existing between the two parties.

Kryal Castle management said they had been approached by music promoter Robert MacManus in October with an offer to host the festival, which they had declined last week.

Marketing and business manager at Kryal Castle Serena Eldridge said the event was never given the go ahead, and the use of Kryal Castle’s name and image had been unauthorised.

“For him to come in and try and run something like that in 16 weeks (was) not feasible.”

Mr MacManus said Kryal Castle were initially interested in the event when approached in October, but were ultimately unable to proceed due to liquor licensing issues which spawned from their recent Oktoberfest event.

“The day after I announced the event questions around liquor licensing came up,” Mr MacManus said.  “It’s no reflection on the festival.”

In a written statement issued by Kryal Castle on Wednesday night, liquor licensing issues were not cited as a factor in management’s decision.

The event on February 20 was set to feature 25 bands from Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Sweden set across two stages, and was expected to attract 2000 punters.

Ms Eldridge said Kryal Castle had been inundated with booking requests for the castle’s accommodation since the event was announced online at the start of the week.

“He wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Ms Eldridge said.

“(Kryal Castle is) a privately owned business and to try and harass us like this is not on.”

The event had been promoted as an all-ages event which would also feature market stalls and a rock music photography exhibition alongside the bands.

The festival had received sponsorship from the Melbourne community radio station PBS, street press music publication Beat and New South Wales brewery Young Henrys.

Mr MacManus said the violence which broke out at the Oktoberfest event and left two men hospitalised had been the only deterrent to the event taking place at the castle.

“They're already embarrassed about (Oktoberfest).

“Had they not had liquor licensing issues it would have gone ahead.”

While Ms Eldridge admitted they had learned a lot from the Oktoberfest event, she said there was a number of logistical factors which meant the festival was not viable.

“There's quite a lot of administration work which goes behind an event like that.”

While Ms Eldridge did not rule out the possibility of holding music events at Kryal Castle in the future, she said the castle’s focus was on their role as a theme park.

“We’re a tourist attraction, we're not really a music venue.”

Headline act from Texas The Sword had promoted the event on their Facebook page, who were set to play the festival as part of their national tour.

The controversy is not the first time Mr MacManus has come under fire through his role as a promoter.

In 2012 Mr MacManus and his touring company Heathen Skulls came under scrutiny after cancelling the scheduled tour of American metal band Sunn O))), who said on their Facebook page at the time Heathen Skulls had “shown complete inconsideration towards the basic requirements of our agreement”.

At the time Mr MacManus put the cancellation down to a saturated market and lower-than-expected ticket sales.

A statement on Rolling Thunder’s Facebook page said the event would still go ahead at another location, which would allow attendees to camp overnight.

Mr MacManus confirmed to The Courier the event would not be taking place within the Ballarat region.