A five-piece band was so popular it shut down part of the hugely popular Hop Festival.

Marylebone Jelly, from Sittingbourne, forced The Quay, a pub and hotel in Faversham, to cut its live performances short after police and security were unable to maintain large crowds that spilt onto a busy road.

Last weekend thousands flocked to the home of Shepherd Neame for a weekend of booze, bands and street food.

The free festival, which has been running for 33 years, returned on Saturday, September 2 and Sunday, September 3.

Pubs across the market town had arranged for bands across Kent to perform at their venues.

However, the landlords at The Quay, Nicky Martin and partner Tania, weren’t quite expecting theirs to lead to their festivities ending early.

Tania said: “The Hop Festival is a fantastic event for Faversham bringing in much-needed revenue to businesses over the weekend.

“Following a successful festival last year and a lot of investment from our end, we put the same protocols in place.

“We had barriers to limit capacity, security staff, and a no glass policy (including bottles purchased elsewhere) to help ensure safety.”

The Quay’s lineup for Sunday included Hullabaloo, Marylebone Jelly and then the Curb Pilots and Gumboots Reggae Band were due to perform into the evening.

But Marylebone’s set was stopped halfway through over safety fears.

Tania continued: “Due to rail strikes on Friday and Saturday, Sunday had a higher footfall than we anticipated.

“We book our bands in advance, so there was no time to change the lineup once the strikes were announced.”

Tania explained that she personally called the police at 1.38pm when Hullaballoo was live on stage.

Several times during the jazz swing group’s performance staff from The Quay had to get on stage and ask those standing in the road to move on.

Tania continued: “We could see crowds of people who could not enter our venue were becoming an issue.

“The police, licensing and security personnel were amazing and were doing everything they could to help move people on so we could continue, but there were not enough resources.”

Tania explained that the pub’s security endured a lot of abuse from people outside of the venue.

She added: “It was not fair on people just trying to do their job.

“As a landlord, it's heartbreaking to announce on stage (multiple times) asking people not within our perimeter to move on and support all the other venues in town or the music would not continue.

“Ultimately, we made the call to cancel all live music shortly before 5pm and cut Marylebone Jelly’s set short as the safety of the public was my biggest concern.

“Crowds were forming in the road and people were not listening to requests to move on elsewhere.

“It's a shame as everyone else was in good spirits and it was a fantastic atmosphere inside the venue.

“The majority of the bands we book on a regular basis so, as disappointing as it was, they fully understand that we did what we had to do.”Tania and Nicky confirmed they are working with the council, police and licensing committee to put extra measures in place for next year's festival.”

Marylebone Jelly singer, Ed Austin, echoed that his band also understood the safety concerns.

On behalf of the group, he said: “It was a brilliant atmosphere at the venue so we were naturally disappointed for both us and the people who’d come to see us that we weren’t able to play a full set.

“We understand, however, that safety must come first.”

There was free entry at all the Faversham pubs but, due to the large crowds, there was often a one-in, one-out system in place during busier times.

As well as the performance entertainment there was also a funfair, juggling workshops, balloon animals and a festival parade at the event.

There were also plenty of other things for visitors to see and do across the weekend, including Morris dancers, buskers, market stalls, street food, pop-up bars and a display of classic cars.