Secret Garden Party 2017 Alcohol

[DiscoDolly]

To Make people aware 

A complete change in policy that not many people know about.  ......   SGP have now banned any alcohol whatsoever being brought onto the site by punters . 

 Money is Obviously tight for Mr Fellowes and his friends. 

 

 

[eFestivals]

it's now disappeared from their website, but because they're not confirming back it won't now be happening, I've just written these few words.

http://www.efestivals.co.uk/news/17/170105a.shtml

 

[evannn]

Obviously the banning of brought-in alcohol is gonna upset a lot of people. I'm not going anyway, but if I was planning it I'd reconsider one of the competition instead.

 

From experience at bestival this year, the pre-order of booze was bog standard tinnies (strongbow/fosters) for about a tenner for a ten crate. You could also buy those silly little pre-mixed tins of spirit + mixers but they were more expensive I think

[seantizz]

Very interesting article Neil. SGP is one I've always been tempted to go to seeing as it's just down the road but this would probably put me off. 

I've got pretty fixed views on alcohol at festivals - the more draconian a festival gets about punters bringing their own onto site or into arenas, the less I'll make use of their bars. 

The brilliant Beat-Herder maintains the best balance of any festival I know. They let you take no more than 4 cans into the arena area at any time. The result - bars are always busy - people drink their own but then hit the bars (where pints are about £3 a go)... 

 

Sean

[zahidf]

one of the reasons i like glasto and end of the road: they do not give a crap and im more happy to mix it up between my stuff and the bars

Hopefully if SGP do try it, i hope its a failure and isnt repeated elsewhere

[The60ftOctopus]

Good article, Neil. Thanks for not holding back.

Reserving the crates at Bestival last year was 'okay', but very limited. You could only pre-order some naff, bog-standard larger or bitter a couple of days before the festival started (the small crates in which you can normally get 3 for £20 in supermarkets). It was nice not having to carry the alcohol, but festival goers should not be limited to this.

Any idea on how much festivals usually make on the bars? 

[eFestivals]

SGP have now got in touch, and have promised clarification as soon as they can give it.

 

49 minutes ago, The60ftOctopus said:

Any idea on how much festivals usually make on the bars? 

It depends on the size of the festival and how heavy the drinking is by the attendees.

It might be a dodgy memory so it could be wrong, but I have a feeling I was once told by the organiser of a medium sized 3-day festival that they'd sold the bar concession for several hundred thousand pounds.

[Memory Man]

i hadn't thought of it that way before, of course the festivals themselves don't make the money on the bars themselves they just contract it out to a professional bar company. Who in turn must insist the festival don't let anyone in with their own booze.

Only where a festival operates its own bars would it presumably have any ability to alter the rules as I guess professional bar companies would not take on a contract if there wasn't exclusivity within the arena.

seems though like it would be entirely a festival's own decision as to what to allow into the campsites. Surely bar operators cannot insist on controls there as long as no booze can be brought into the arena.

Of course you then have different levels of checking at the gates, from the very thorough to the not through at all. At Kendal calling you can just walk in with whatever you like even though there are security, as they didn't seem fussed. As long as it wasn't an open can in your hand.

I'm always of the opinion that people will use the bars regardless of the alcohol policy, you see the bars busy all the time at glastonbury as some just dont want to carry their booze and want to have a cold pint than a warm tin.

I think its time some festivals relaxed their policies as it does create a better atmosphere at the event I feel, less tension and frustration at what you can and can't drink etc.

Edited January 6, 2017 by Memory Man

[eFestivals]

7 minutes ago, Memory Man said:

i hadn't thought of it that way before, of course the festivals themselves don't make the money on the bars themselves they just contract it out to a professional bar company. Who in turn must insist the festival don't let anyone in with their own booze.

I'd guess it's not done in quite that way.

It's probably the case that the festival decides what restrictions they're going to apply to bringing in alcohol, and then a bar operator will offer a particular price based on how much business they'll get with those restrictions in place.

I'd also guess that the bar take at SGP isn't as great as it will be at some other fests, because there's probably a fair amount of non-drinking (due to other reasons )  going on with SGP's clientelle - which might be why they seem keen to add to the alcohol restrictions.

[man next door]

at £190 a ticket, this promises to be a steep weekend if they do go that way.

I can't see myself going to a festival with this policy again, especially when the likes of Beatherder and Bearded Theory put on what they do without this bull$hit.

It's good to grab a few pints over the weekend - don't take the mick, but seriously -  how much would it cost to drink solidly for 3 days when going to the bar every time, not to mention how much stuff you miss going there each time.

[Paul ™]

Sounds a horrendous rule if true, and would put me off going at all.

As mentioned above, some festivals have it spot on with no restrictions at all and fairly priced bars, Bearded Theory have Thornbridge on board to run their bars, with a great choice of ales, traditional ciders and lagers and reasonable pub prices... so people still use the bars and bring what they need/want in mainly for the campsite, but with no restriction on what can be taken into the 'arena'

[eFestivals]

10 minutes ago, Paul ™ said:

Sounds a horrendous rule if true, and would put me off going at all.

it was certainly true yesterday when it was on their website. Now there's no alcohol restrictions mentioned - which is a bit of a clue, cos they've had pretty tight restrictions anyway.

I get and accept that festivals need to make the finances work and alcohol restrictions are one of the ways they 'secretly' extract more money from punters, but now the situation is worse than ever for SGP-ers, because they don't have a clue what T&C's might be imposed on them.

[aidenlangan95]

This policy is going to reduce sales massively. I think we're looking at the beginning of the end of SGP tbh.

[eFestivals]

SGP have just sent us a statement.

http://www.efestivals.co.uk/news/17/170106d.shtml

[man next door]

7 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

SGP have just sent us a statement.

http://www.efestivals.co.uk/news/17/170106d.shtml

so...can you take your own booze, or not?

[retromoz]

The one time i went to SGP, booze was not the problem. IT was all the disco biscuits and co2 going round. That and the naked man getting an ice cream who was COMPLETELY hairless, who's image I cannot remove from my brain (this is obviously only a moz problem).

So.....if there was a way they could sell their own uppers too, that would make WAY more coin that the honk that could be made with booze......

 

[eFestivals]

22 minutes ago, man next door said:

so...can you take your own booze, or not?

Who knows. :lol:

At least it's out in the open now, and it's not something they'll be able to slip past people.

The very fact that they've taken it off their website and can't say right now whether it's happening or not means they're having to reconsider whether it's a good idea or not. I suspect - and hope - they'll bottle it.

If they need more money from their punters they should be honest about it and increase the ticket price.

[mjsell]

having read the two efests articles I'm quite pleased SGP are giving this idea some serious thought. I have never been to SGP but I'm intrigued to see where this goes because done right it could very well change the way small/mid sized festivals operate and remain sustainable (which can only be a good thing).

I too went to bestival this year and used the preorder service that they had in place. I ordered two 10 packs of fosters for I think around £20-22 (I cant quite remember, but it certainly wasnt 'supermarket prices'), and then brought another 10 pack in with me on arrival.  It by no means was a perfect system, and had serveal big flaws that I wasnt completely happy about - but the idea was great and can be easily moulded into a better system in the future.

The main complaint, like has been said, was the selection of beverages available, however my other main gripe was the actual accessability to what I had bought. The pre-order kiosk was not open throughout the whole day and had ridiclous time slots when you could go and collect your beers (dont quote me but I think it was 9am-2pm and 9pm-12pm).

However all in all, the system has a lot of legs. If they integrate it fully into the festival with multiple kiosks that can cope with a whole festival using them, all day opening hours and a better selection of beers, spirits and mixers then I'd be a complete fan.

Being able to go and pick up cold beers whenever you want for massively reduced prices to those of the bars and not having to lug a load of crates in with you is the stuff of dreams if done right.

Edit: apologies for the essay

Edited January 6, 2017 by mjsell

[eFestivals]

2 minutes ago, mjsell said:

having read the two efests articles I'm quite pleased SGP are giving this idea some serious thought. I have never been to SGP but I'm intrigued to see where this goes because done right it could very well change the way small/mid sized festivals operate and remain sustainable (which can only be a good thing).

I too went to bestival this year and used the preorder service that they had in place. I ordered two 10 packs of fosters for I think around £20-22 (I cant quite remember, but it certainly wasnt 'supermarket prices'), and then brought another 10 pack in with me on arrival.  It by no means was a perfect system, and had serveal big flaws that I wasnt completely happy about - but the idea was great and can be easily moulded into a better system in the future.

The main complaint, like has been said, was the selection of beverages available, however my other main gripe was the actual accessability to what I had bought. The pre-order kiosk was not open throughout the whole day and had ridiclous time slots when you could go and collect your beers (dont quote me but I think it was 9am-2pm and 9pm-12pm).

However all in all, the system has a lot of legs. If they integrate it fully into the festival with multiple kiosks that can cope with a whole festival using them, all day opening hours and a better selection of beers, spirits and mixers then I'd be a complete fan.

Being able to go and pick up cold beers whenever you want for massively reduced prices to those of the bars and not having to lug a load of crates in with you is the stuff of dreams if done right.

Edit: apologies for the essay

I've not been to SGP myself tho I've often heard it's one of the most expensive for booze at the bars. And I know from my visits that bestival definitely is one of the moist expensive (and also with probably the worst bars of any festival i've been too).

So when the expensive-for-drinks festivals are at the front of the queue for rolling this out, I doubt the motivations are for giving their punters a better service.

If they need more money from their punters they should be honest about it and increase the ticket price, and take the premium off the alcohol prices.

[zahidf]

i think anything banning you bringing legal, non-dangerous items to the campsite is a terrible idea. It will just piss off punters. I certainly think twice before going to a festival which bans it in the arena, i certainly wont go if its a total ban

[mjsell]

41 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

I've not been to SGP myself tho I've often heard it's one of the most expensive for booze at the bars. And I know from my visits that bestival definitely is one of the moist expensive (and also with probably the worst bars of any festival i've been too).

So when the expensive-for-drinks festivals are at the front of the queue for rolling this out, I doubt the motivations are for giving their punters a better service.

If they need more money from their punters they should be honest about it and increase the ticket price, and take the premium off the alcohol prices.

From what I gathered from that statement they sent to you they are not trying to affect the sales figures of their arena bars (I assume SGP has an arena). It sounds like they are just trying to make some more profit off of the truckloads of crates that are carted in to most festivals by punters to (supposedly) drink around the campsites.

Bestival is very relaxed when it comes to stopping people carry drinks through to their arena - generally they dont bother checking but for say a ten minute period every hour. I took through probably more alchohol at bestival this year than previously due to the fact that if I timed it right, I could pick up some cold beers on the way through.

If they start to implement this to make a ton of money then they first need to change their attitudes to stopping people bringing drink through.

Also, as much as their obviously is a profit making motive behind this one assumes - its not the wildest of ideas that they may think by offering these sorts of services that do enhance a punters experiences (I certainly enjoyed my lighter weighted walk into the festival) they may see an increase in people returning to the festival for multiple years.

Edited January 6, 2017 by mjsell

[eFestivals]

5 minutes ago, mjsell said:

Also, as much as their obviously is a profit making motive behind this one assumes - its not the wildest of ideas that they may think by offering these sorts of services that do enhance a punters experiences (I certainly enjoyed my lighter weighted walk into the festival) they may see an increase in people returning to the festival for multiple years.

if it was that, they could offer the 'off licence' service to anyone that wanted it, and still allow anyone else to bring their own booze.

The fact it's planned to be their-booze-only shows it's not that.

[man next door]

edit - looks like you guys beat me to it....

 

hmmm - in principal, I guess there's a (weak) argument to take the profit away from the supermarkets, to generate a new revenue stream for the festival, and to save our shoulders on the friday....

However, when it's only pi$$ water like fosters, and at double (at best) supermarket prices - clearly it's not about improving the festival goers experience.

Obviously this scheme can only be a positive thing for punters if it's presented as an option, alongside the option to carry 72 beers in on our backs.

not sure increasing the ticket price is an option though given where it is already. It would probably be better if they rethink the expenditure side of their particular equation.

Edited January 6, 2017 by man next door

[mjsell]

12 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

if it was that, they could offer the 'off licence' service to anyone that wanted it, and still allow anyone else to bring their own booze.

The fact it's planned to be their-booze-only shows it's not that.

That is true, I'll accept that. They need to introduce it as an option not a compulsion for this to work and be successful.

Perhaps the logistics of putting the service in place and the structure for profit from it rely on a certain amount of people to use it, and they have stupidly thought that the best way to do this is to make it a compulsary element of the festival. 

Hopefully they are realising by the reaction to it, that they need to rethink that idea, becasue as an option that is publicized well it could be very successful for both the festival and for punters. As you can tell I am just hoping pre-order services take off at festivals. 

Edited January 6, 2017 by mjsell

[eFestivals]

9 minutes ago, mjsell said:

Perhaps the logistics of putting the service in place and the structure for profit from it rely on a certain amount of people to use it,

I thought that briefly but it can't be, not for an 'order in advance' service.

No matter how much they might sell, they're likely to make a decent profit on what they do sell - as it's unlikely they'd pay "supermarket prices" for whatever large amount they were selling to punters.