SOUTHAMPTON'S popular balloon and flower festival has been scrapped for good.

Civic chiefs are to axe the prestigious event - renamed the Southampton Festival last year in an 11th-hour bid to secure its future - because of a huge drop in attendances.

At its peak in the mid-1990s more than 150,000 people crowded on to Southampton Common for the show, which can trace its roots back to the Second World War.

By last July that figure had plummeted to just 75,000.

Leisure bosses say they can no longer justify the festival's £60,000 price tag.

Opposition councillors and residents' groups across the city have condemned the move.

All change for the city visitor guide

The axing of the festival means Southampton tourist bosses will now have to revise the city's visitor guide - just days after its high-profile launch.

The new guide was launched by mayor Councillor Dennis Harryman at a glittering ceremony aboard P&O's cruise ship Oriana last Friday.

However, the guide was printed before Christmas - too early to remove any references to the now scrapped festival, which it says was due to take place on the Common on June 25 and 26.

City chiefs discussed axing the event over the holiday period with the final decision being taken on January 4, which was too late to change the guide.

About 1,000 of the planned 55,000 guides had already been produced but Southampton leisure chiefs told the Daily Echo all references to the festival would be removed by the time of the next print run.

Council Cabinet member for tourism and leisure Councillor Peter Wakeford denied that city chiefs were embarrassed about the error.

He said: "It is just one of those things we have to accept."