A hotel denied to refund an army veteran who cancelled his 50th wedding anniversary party since his wife passed away prior to the event, Mirror, reported Thursday.

According to the report, 78-year-old Eric Clifton decided to contact the hotel to seek for refund since he already cancelled the party that he was supposed to hold in time for his 50th wedding anniversary with his beloved wife Joyce, who had unfortunately passed away prior to the event.

Mirror reported that Mr. Clifton forced to cancel the party eight weeks before the event since 72-year-old Joyce had died from cancer then.

Clifton said that when he contacted the Lysses House Hotel in Fareham, he was informed that both sums he paid for the venue were deposits and are non-refundable in one way or another.

All-in-all he gave the hotel £700 upfront payment for his wedding anniversary. He gave the hotel an initial deposit of £160 with a further payment amounting to £535.

Now the former warrant officer in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers is saddened by the fact that he cannot receive any refund out of his payment.

"I feel rather bitter about it," said CLifton, who has two children and five grandchildren. "They said that all of the amount paid was deposit, it couldn't be refunded and we were told at the time.

"I am pretty cross. We had been there several times before - I won't be going back there again," he added.

Meanwhile, the Lysses House Hotel has also voiced out the main reason why they cannot give the army veteran a refund.

Front-of-house manager at the hotel, Nicola Stafford said Clifton had read and signed their terms and conditions when he booked the venue thus they cannot give him a refund for his deposit since they are unable to re-let the function room.

"It's unfortunate and we understand he is upset and angry but we cannot give him preferential treatment," Stafford said.

"Our terms and conditions are standard across the industry and we would advise anybody booking a function to take out insurance for any such eventuality very much as if you had booked a holiday," she added.