The two yoga entrepreneurs behind what furious customers dubbed the ‘UK’s Fyre Festival’ left clients and traders more than £218,765 out of pocket, damning new figures show.
Roman and Ella Wroath founded their firm Soul Circus Limited in 2016, before eventually hosting their first festival in 2018.
It was described as ‘both revitalising and energising in equal measure’, but for their customers the event was anything but.
Year after year yoga enthusiasts descended on the Cotswolds to participate in the event advertised as having ‘the most sought after’ instructors and practitioners.
But in 2024 things quickly went awry as the date for their sixth festival with attendees old and new told the date was changed and later cancelled.
There was no consistency when it came to refunds and rolled over tickets, with some not offered the latter and others unaware the 2025 event was no longer happening.
Some did not receive any notification from the business at all, so out of the loop they arrived on the day of the festival and were greeted by an empty field.
And when disgruntled customers attempted chargebacks, Soul Circus LTD contested them, with Roman threatening festivalgoers with legal action when contacted.
But now a statement of affairs published to their Companies House profile has laid bare the epic scale of firms, traders and customers left out of pocket.
Roman and Ella Wroath (pictured) – the organisers of Soul Circus – which has been dubbed by some clients as the ‘UK’s Fyre Festival’
Many believed the 2025 event was still on until they found out Soul Circus was being liquidated (Pictured: Ella and Roman Wroath laughing on a yacht)
A before and after comparison showing what the field looked like (Pictured left: Soul Circus when it went ahead in a previous year, right: The empty field clients found in 2024)
The total amount Soul Circus owes to creditors was initially £401,903.75. However, a £80,000 tax bill, credit cards and various other loans taken out by the company lowered this total to £218,715.
Among those owed a slice of the shocking six-figure sum are 252 customers, 32 traders, two employees, as well as various other firms.
In the final account before the company’s dissolution, the liquidator said several aspects of the Wroaths’ conduct warranted further investigation.
This included the high number of customer complaints as well as the non-payment of refunds, and the retention of crown monies.
Challengeable drawings and expense when trading as well as fraudulent information provided in a Bounce Back Loan Scheme during COVID, were also listed.
Soul Circus’ Statement of Affairs show the company had taken out £44,296 in Bounce Back Loans from Natwest.
To add insult to injury for those who tried desperately to recoup their funds, the two yogis had an active yachting company, Galaxia International, at the time.
Described as an ‘eBrockage’ and an ‘eMarina’ introducing ‘waves of change’, the company has previously organised events in the sunny Costa del Sol.
When the Daily Mail visited the business website – it read ‘new website coming soon’.
However, there are currently no directors for the firm with all persons connected to the business having resigned, according to Companies House.
The Soul Circus website was wiped from the face of the internet. Tickets for Soul Circus 2025 were also being advertised on the site until December 4 of last year.
As of March 2025, it was also understood that while the pair are currently in the UK, they did have a residence in Portugal.
‘We refuse to deliver anything less than the exceptional experience you deserve, leading us to this decision,’ the statement read.
‘We kindly ask you to please allow us some time and space to work through the current situation and we will provide further information in the next 45 – 60 days.’
It comes after disappointed festivalgoers waited over a year in the hopes they would get refunds for their purchase, which for some amounted to thousands of pounds.
Helen Holland and Lianna Greene spent £225 and £1,395 on tickets respectively.
For 45-year-old Ms Greene the Soul Circus festival was meant to be a surprise get-away for one of her closest friends, as she bought nine tickets at a discount for the entire group – with a couple of bottles of prosecco thrown in with her order.
But just four weeks before they were due to set off on the relaxing and holistic weekend she received an email from Soul Circus saying the event had been cancelled.
The email which was sent on July 5th extended an apology from the firm to their ‘cherished community’ saying that it was with ‘heavy hearts’ the festival had been cancelled due to ‘a dramatic rise in operational costs’.
Mr Wroath at the luxury Octant Hotel in Portugal – which costs upwards of £200 per night for two adults
Festivalgoers attending a yoga session at Soul Circus festival in 2023 – the year before the 2024 event
Due to the short notice, Ms Greene couldn’t cancel the AirBnB so the group decided to have a quiet weekend in Gloucestershire for her friend’s birthday, as she patiently waited for her lump sum to be refunded.
After a lot of chasing and ‘back-and-forth’, the Hertfordshire woman eventually received a Google form where they could request a refund from Soul Circus.
But when she logged into her online portal via the festival’s website it suggested she wasn’t owed a single penny, so she submitted a charge back with Barclaycard.
By this point she had given her friends the money for their tickets back leaving herself out of pocket by £1,395 because she believed she would be refunded.
But the company contested the charge – suggesting she ordered tickets on a sale or return basis for Rise Festival in Ibiza – an entirely different event she had never attended or purchased tickets for.
‘For me to pay everybody back, I was putting myself at risk if Barclaycard wouldn’t budge,’ she told the Daily Mail.
‘After investigating, I feel I am in a predicament, I have just found out the company is trying to go into liquidation and you’re kind of wondering if I will get the refund.
‘I have got real mixed emotions because we were doing something nice for our friend, which on paper seemed like it was going to be amazing.
Some yogis even took to social media to inform others they had travelled to the wellness weekend in August and were greeted by an empty field and a confused farmer last summer (Pictured: Ella Wroath)
A large welcome sign seen in 2023 welcoming yogis to the wellbeing event
‘But the fact people can just run away with people’s money whilst everyone has paid into a festival that didn’t happen and have been fobbed off.
‘This is our hard earned money and our downtime which is special to all of us – so the fact they are able to just get away with it, is just beyond words really.’
She added: ‘The way the whole thing has been handled is really inappropriate. It sits really uncomfortably to be honest.’
Single mother Helen Holland, 36, previously had a ‘very positive’ experience attending the holistic festival in 2022, so didn’t think twice about handing over £225 for a ticket.
But the event that for her was based on ‘community and connection’ turned into a disaster in 2024, leaving her out of pocket and her once happy memories soured.
The yoga teacher from Hertfordshire was offered to roll over her ticket when the event was cancelled in 2024, but opted for a refund.
Ms Holland said: ‘They asked the whole time for patience and asked people to give them time to sort everything out, and being the trusting person I am, I believed them and waited for them to get in touch.’
However neither Soul Circus or its directors got in touch with the single mother, who found out there was a form to apply for a ‘discretionary refund’ via a friend.
In 2024 Soul Circus changed their Terms and Conditions page six separate times, according to their website’s data history.
The field nestled in the Cotswolds should have been teeming with yogis but instead customers were greeted by a confused farmer and an empty field
Attendees enjoying a yoga lesson at a Soul Circus festival that went ahead in 2023
Companies can give refunds at their own discretion when they are not legally obligated to give customers their money back.
If a festival or event is cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances customers have the right to a full refund, except in specific instances outlined in the terms and conditions under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
On September 12, 2024 the following line had been added to the terms and conditions page: ‘If Soul Circus agrees to a discretionary refund, [the] refund will be provided within a 12-month period.’
By this point the event, which was due to take place in August, had already been cancelled with many people still waiting on their refunds.
‘I don’t think people should be able to treat others like that especially in the name of being healthy and looking out for each other, it makes it that little bit extra more sore,’ Helen said.
‘Anybody believed that they would stick to their word have obviously been stung quite badly.’
Now the single mother has become ‘very wary’ of parting with any money, adding: ‘As time goes on I just feel disappointed.
‘I feel incredibly frustrated that they can get away with behaving in that manner, and a complete lack of empathy for anyone else
‘It makes me wary of companies in the future – and it’s just left me feel sad to be honest.
‘Seeing their posts online – it just feels like they are sat on a yacht somewhere drinking away everyone’s money.’
A landscape picture showing tents and festivalgoers at Soul Circus when it went ahead in 2022
A light up van and decoration at Soul Circus festival 2023 – the year prior to the cancelled event
But it wasn’t only customers who were left out of pocket, herbal tea business Mother Cuppa and its owner Candice Mason almost went bust when Roman and Ella’s firm charged her new company twice for a pitch – and refused to provide a refund.
The 42-year-old first contacted Roman in November 2023 enquiring about prices for a stand at the festival in the hopes of growing her clientele and thus her business.
She wanted to pay her £600 in staggered payments but was charged the full amount, with the additional instalment plans still being taken from her account during the Christmas period in 2023.
‘I kept emailing him, saying, you need to stop the instalment payments and refund me the additional payments back – but he failed to do that,’ she said.
‘It continued to take the instalment payment from my bank accounts and for seven months I emailed asking for the refund for the duplicate payments.’
The entrepreneur claims Roman tried to liaise a phone call between herself and his wife Ella, which left her confused: ‘I didn’t need a phone call just need[ed] my money refunded. I want[ed] my money back.’
‘My business was only a year old when I booked it and I didn’t have a lot of money, so it was a big risk to book things like that.’
She added: ‘It caused me cash flow problems, I borrowed from my mum for my business and it really broke my confidence and trust.’
Down by £1,200 in total, Candice said she was ignored for weeks at a time, whilst claiming that when Roman did eventually reply he allegedly told her she would not get her money back and that she could not cancel due to the terms and conditions.
She later began court proceedings against Soul Circus Ltd in July, where neither Ella or Roman attended any of mediation or court hearings. Their response to the court proceedings referenced Soul Circus’s terms and conditions.
Down by £1,400 in total, Candice Mason (pictured) said she was ignored for weeks at a time, and had to take the duo to small claims court in an attempt to get her money back
Despite a court county judgment (CCJ) being placed against Roman and Ella’s company Soul Circus LTD, Candice (Pictured) has not had her money back
The judge later ruled in Candice’s favour ordering Soul Circus’s directors – who were not present to pay her the £1,200 plus court fees totalling to £1,491.16.
Despite a court county judgment (CCJ) being placed against Roman and Ella’s company Soul Circus, the duo have still not paid Candice her money back.
In December, Candice e-mailed Roman informing him she was due her money, in line with the CCJ: ‘I wasn’t going to let this drop, it was a lot of money for me.
‘I got a sh***y reply that basically said along the lines of “I’m going to liquidate the company. You’re going to get instructions from the insolvency people”.’
The Daily Mail has also seen correspondence where Roman threatened Candice with defamation after she contacted him asking for a refund.
She was also never informed by Soul Circus that the event was no longer going ahead despite never officially cancelling her space.
‘I am really angry and it takes quite a lot to make me angry. Its the audacity of it, that is not a professionally run operation and he is not a professional person,’ she said.
‘It’s left me feeling bitter and twisted.
‘The money I lost was a month’s worth of stock – I didn’t have enough money to stock, he caused me a massive problem.
‘It’s left me feeling like I can’t trust events companies in that way anymore. I don’t want to do them anymore. I was so stressed at one point.
‘And the fact the whole event is geared around wellbeing, mental wellbeing within the industry and this is so anti that experience.
‘He’s completely taken the p**s because he’s picking and choosing which bank to argue with or not. I cannot believe he’s been allowed to have another business.’
Due to Candice taking the pair to small claims court, there is currently a county court judgement (CCJ) against Soul Circus Limited.
Helen Holland and Lianna Greene (Pictured with red hair with friends in Gloucestershire after the festival was cancelled) have been waiting well over a year for their refunds, spending £225 and £1,395 on tickets respectively
Soul Circus contested Lianna’s (pictured with red hair on the failed SoulCircus weekend) charge – suggesting she issued tickets on a sale or return basis for a Rise Festival in Ibiza – an entirely different event she had never attended or purchased tickets to
A CCJ is a court order to pay a debt or compensate someone, and it can in some cases impact your credit rating.
However Roman and Ella Wroath are no strangers to CCJs, having previously had one placed against them personally for not paying rent to their previous landlord.
The individual, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the Daily Mail the duo almost left their family on the brink of financial ruin during the height of Covid.
The Wroaths began renting the London flat at £2,275-a-month in October 2019, initially ‘pushing’ for a two-year contract, which was whittled down to 12 months.
The landlords assumed they had done everything right, conducting the proper checks on the couple, who passed with flying colours.
They claim to have noticed some ‘red flags’ a couple months in due to alleged minor damage and noise complaints from neighbours, but the situation went completely awry in March when Covid-19 hit.
They alleged: ‘[Ella] called my husband in tears and we bought it because they said: “Oh, we’ve lost everything. We can’t pay the rent. We want to go”.’
However the Wroaths were in the middle of their year-long contract, and were obligated to pay until they managed to find someone else to take over their contract.
They even tried setting up a payment plan for Ella and Roman, but no payments had come through and the pair had stopped responding, with the landlords later realising the duo had abandoned the property.
‘After several months we came to realise that they had no intention to pay. It was thousands of pounds by then and we realised we were in deep trouble,’ they said.
‘There’s no way I could get a job in lockdown because everybody was being laid off or on furlough.’
They added: ‘The stress was so much that I was covered in psoriasis. I couldn’t even open my eyes.
Now those who have been wronged by Soul Circus and its directors Ella and Roman have formed a group created by Jeni, who was a loyal attendee of Soul Circus festival (Pictured: The festival in 2023)
‘My entire body was covered. I’m still suffering from it. And honestly, we thought we were going to be financially ruined.’
Eventually they took the Wroaths to court, but due to Covid-19 a process that should have taken four to six months ended up taking three years, meaning the landlords had to part with even more money.
Despite being ordered in March 2023 by the court to pay their landlords a sum of £9,874.16 they did not do so before the 30-day deadline, meaning this CCJ is currently still on the Wroaths’ credit record.
After causing their landlords significant stress, they paid the full amount ordered by the courts via an instalment plan.
‘Every month when the money came through we were surprised. It was a bittersweet satisfaction because it had taken so long – and the fact that the responsibility of doing all the work is on the victim,’ they said.
‘Make no mistake they were living the best life, while we were the ones who were at home worried about money, not sleeping, dealing with psoriasis and and ill health.
‘It also meant that we didn’t enjoy our life, it sucked out all the joy. We could have spent time with our elderly parents and been with them.
‘We could have been with my father-in-law who died from a sudden fall, but instead we were busy doing all the paperwork and speaking to lawyers.’
They added: ‘The [flat] was going to be an investment for my future and it turned out to be a complete disaster.’
‘We sold it. We haven’t made much money on it, but just the relief of not having to deal with that nonsense was enough for us.’
Recalling the ordeal, they said they ultimately ‘felt betrayed’ tearfully adding: ‘I think what’s most hurtful is that they just don’t care.
‘Even to this day I must say I have lost my faith in human beings.
‘It’s broken something inside of us and it’s very sad, because we have always been really good people. Even now I just don’t look at people the same way.’
Those wronged by Roman and Ella formed a group created by Jeni, who was a loyal attendee of Soul Circus festival, as they tried to get their money back as the company begins its liquidation process.
The group now has around 296 members, some who have received their refunds, many who are still out of pocket and some who haven’t been notified about the company going into liquidation despite technically being creditors.
Jeni wanted to cancel her tickets after being ‘very annoyed’ that the 2024 dates had been changed last minute – little did she know she would have to fight tooth and nail for almost a year to get £198 back.
Their previous landlord has also come forward to the Daily Mail to tell how they were left on the brink of financial ruin due to the duo’s refusal to pay the rent for their London flat, leaving them out of pocket to the tune of five figures (Pictured: Soul Circus Festival in 2023)
After receiving no money she claimed a charge back in August, which did not land in her account until December due to there being a contest from Soul Circus LTD.
Jeni told the Daily Mail ‘I suppose it shocked me that they weren’t forthcoming with a refund because they had made the error.
‘Its a massive juxtaposition that a wellbeing festival that’s focus on wellness and wellbeing and health has been so detrimental to so many people’s.’
The Daily Mail previously attempted to contact Ella and Roman Wroath for comment but they did not reply.
We also approached Galaxia International, Soul Circus LTD and the Financial Ombudsman for comment.
Companies House and the Insolvency Service declined to comment.
Detective Superintendent Gary Miles, speaking on behalf of Action Fraud, said: ‘Action Fraud can confirm that it received NFRC240906895001 on 18 September 2024. It was assessed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) at the City of London Police but has not been passed to a police force for investigation.
‘It will continue to be reviewed against new information received from Action Fraud reports. Over 850,000 reports are made to the NFIB every year and not all cases can be passed on for further investigation.
‘Reports are assessed against a number of criteria, but unfortunately not every case of fraud will be sent to police forces for investigative opportunities. There are different ways a report can be dealt with when it cannot be passed to a police force.
‘These include the National Economic Crime Victim Care Unit NECVCU) helping victims to reclaim monies lost.
‘Reports are vital in helping the police develop intelligence and take disruptive activity to prevent other people from falling victim, such as taking down websites, telephone numbers and email addresses linked to fraud.
‘Action Fraud can also confirm it received another report, NFRC250107146858, on 29 January 2025, which is currently being assessed by the NFIB.’
It is understood that neither Action Fraud nor the NFIB have investigative powers.
