Bar queues

[Sue12]

What are the queues like at the bars? Been to smaller festivals with just a few bars and big queues.

[waynewdk]

Not been to many as u can literally take ur alcohol anywhere in the festival, only time i remember it being crazy was when I went to bar mid Jay z concert, it was a bit jammed,  they do have dotted arounds like food fans that sell mini bottles of wine like u get on the plane and others stuff which always seems fast

[marathonsteve]

Theres a fair number of bars dotted around but I normally drink what I brought with me.

 

[fat_man_joe]

They're nothing to worry about too much, so you don't have to plan your day around it.

As you can bring your booze anyway in the fest, they're not rammo like you'd get at other festivals. but of course a queue can crop up from time to time.

I usually allow myself three bar-bought pints a day during the day, so I'm having a nice cool Thatchers in the sun. Then as many tinnies as I like otherwise. Never had more than a five minute wait from memory, including from the bar at the Pyramid stage (this was only during the day mind).

[I feel like Pablo]

All fine, not as busy as you would think, unless it's as scorching as last year and then people were queued out the tents. That's the only year I've ever seen it bad though and it was bloody exceptional

[sedra]

Not really any big queues- there is no queuing system like at some festivals as most people bring in their own booze as there is no restrictions like at most other festivals. This year getting a cold pint meant probably a bit more of a wait near the main stages but otherwise not really a problem. Other festivals have a separate arena / camping area but Glastonbury has no separate areas or restrictions at the gates even if you are coming on site from the campervan fields. 

[Sue12]

Thanks for all the answers everyone ??

[BlueDaze]

i am pretty rubbish at carrying my own beer around (staying in the CV fields means a trip back to the accomodation isnt a practical choice) and so have always tended to use the bars during the day/early evening.. The queues are often dependent on who has just finished on the nearest stage, if its too busy just walk on to the next..

After dark seems to be the greater challenge, especially as you want to position yourself in a decent spot for your chosen headliner.. Regretably i have most often turned to the, easy to carry, flavoured vodka at this point and end up an embarassment to my daughters (grown up.. before i get accused of shoddy parenting) and wife.

I keep thinking that i should put say 4 beers in a lock-up in the morning and collect before darkness falls as a solution, but in 10 years i havent been organised enough... and i probably would end up with a dozen beers sitting in various sites because of tactical naiveity when it comes to working out 'where you will end up vs where you previously came from..'.

Use the bars. Cold beer is your friend.

The need to pee is a whole different (albeit interrelated) topic.

[GoonerRob]

Lots of queues at the JP tent's bar this year when the bigger acts were on... (in between friendly fires and the streets was the most memorable) but in general, I dont even think about bar queues as they're a non issue.

[Hotchilidog]

Bar queues are not normally that bad. The Cider Bus is particularly expeditious when servicing the queue!

[LongTimeLurker]

On 10/20/2019 at 11:18 AM, BlueDaze said:

I keep thinking that i should put say 4 beers in a lock-up in the morning and collect before darkness falls as a solution, but in 10 years i havent been organised enough... and i probably would end up with a dozen beers sitting in various sites because of tactical naiveity when it comes to working out 'where you will end up vs where you previously came from..'.

Use the bars. Cold beer is your friend.

I finally did that this year for the first time...couldn’t handle the logistics of using multiple locations  so just used the one by the Park (I was in CV West). It was a revelation! Put some cans and some spirits & mixers in, as well as warm clothes for the evening. Can definitely see why people recommend the lock-ups. But you’ve got to keep your wits about you when checking stuff in and out as losing the ticket would be a right pain.

[Hugh Jass]

Don’t think I’ve ever queued more than a few minutes for a drink at Glastonbury.

The Brothers bar always looks heaving but when you get closer you realise that it’s mostly just people hanging around in front and the actual queue to get served is pretty small.

[BlueDaze]

23 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

I finally did that this year for the first time...couldn’t handle the logistics of using multiple locations  so just used the one by the Park (I was in CV West). It was a revelation! Put some cans and some spirits & mixers in, as well as warm clothes for the evening. Can definitely see why people recommend the lock-ups. But you’ve got to keep your wits about you when checking stuff in and out as losing the ticket would be a right pain.

yes.. of course, the sweatshirt.! sound advice as the beer overcoat always wears off.

[Crazyfool01]

On 10/21/2019 at 9:31 PM, LongTimeLurker said:

I finally did that this year for the first time...couldn’t handle the logistics of using multiple locations  so just used the one by the Park (I was in CV West). It was a revelation! Put some cans and some spirits & mixers in, as well as warm clothes for the evening. Can definitely see why people recommend the lock-ups. But you’ve got to keep your wits about you when checking stuff in and out as losing the ticket would be a right pain.

Dont forget to take a photo of it ... can help lots  

[ya_concha]

On 10/20/2019 at 11:18 AM, BlueDaze said:

i am pretty rubbish at carrying my own beer around (staying in the CV fields means a trip back to the accomodation isnt a practical choice) and so have always tended to use the bars during the day/early evening.. The queues are often dependent on who has just finished on the nearest stage, if its too busy just walk on to the next..

After dark seems to be the greater challenge, especially as you want to position yourself in a decent spot for your chosen headliner.. Regretably i have most often turned to the, easy to carry, flavoured vodka at this point and end up an embarassment to my daughters (grown up.. before i get accused of shoddy parenting) and wife.

I keep thinking that i should put say 4 beers in a lock-up in the morning and collect before darkness falls as a solution, but in 10 years i havent been organised enough... and i probably would end up with a dozen beers sitting in various sites because of tactical naiveity when it comes to working out 'where you will end up vs where you previously came from..'.

Use the bars. Cold beer is your friend.

The need to pee is a whole different (albeit interrelated) topic.

all true

[Bisque]

For headliners I usually take a 50/50 mix of rum & coke in a 2ltr bottle. It can mean you can get very drunk but it usually lasts me all set if I walk in with a pint or two at the start. I will need to go for a pee at some point but at least I can still hear the music & not be frustrated waiting at a bar to get back.

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

Queues were awful in a lot of bars this year, but that was due to the heat. It was particularly brutal as the temperature in a lot of the bars must’ve been about 50 degrees. Also particularly annoying when all you want are cold beers and they’re sitting there ready poured already. Your actual transaction takes about 2 seconds. Any other year I’ve been there are barely queues in any of the bars, so it’s very weather dependant.

[BlueDaze]

On 11/7/2019 at 4:14 PM, Bisque said:

For headliners I usually take a 50/50 mix of rum & coke in a 2ltr bottle. It can mean you can get very drunk but it usually lasts me all set if I walk in with a pint or two at the start. I will need to go for a pee at some point but at least I can still hear the music & not be frustrated waiting at a bar to get back.

by jingo...! a litre of rum in 90 mins...!?

 

[Bisque]

4 minutes ago, BlueDaze said:

by jingo...! a litre of rum in 90 mins...!?

 

Maybe during subs & headliners! Might give my friends a couple of swigs if they are on the bags of wine/cider ?

I won’t need much more the rest of the evening, couple of pints from the bars here & there.

[BlueDaze]

i

21 hours ago, Bisque said:

Maybe during subs & headliners! Might give my friends a couple of swigs if they are on the bags of wine/cider ?

I won’t need much more the rest of the evening, couple of pints from the bars here & there.

im such a flipping lightweight...

[glasto-worker]

On 11/14/2019 at 7:05 AM, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

Queues were awful in a lot of bars this year, but that was due to the heat. It was particularly brutal as the temperature in a lot of the bars must’ve been about 50 degrees. Also particularly annoying when all you want are cold beers and they’re sitting there ready poured already. Your actual transaction takes about 2 seconds. Any other year I’ve been there are barely queues in any of the bars, so it’s very weather dependant.

yes sales are affected by the weather but hot weather does not create the most demand - sales are far higher when its Overcast but dry { using stats for the past 33 years } - in a well run bar the MDU { pours 12 pints at a time } will be run to minimise waste hence why there is not tons of full pints on the table on the right - in fact it must have been quiet ' as I would not have had the time to take these two photos ' and there is no drink in any of the Cups.

Depending on the size of the bar there can be up to 20 MDU's just cranking out lager and they are not in operation all at the same time - they are cranked up when there is high demand - A drinker should understand that in the large Counter bars { where you cant walk into } each gap in the tent is a station {bottom photo is Reading but if you count the gaps there is ' 16 stations { with 32 MDU's }} so if you spot hundreds of pints in station 1 and very few pints in station 2 then go to station 2 -  ' - staff are instructed not to cross a station although other bar operators are not as well organised.

Most times a pint will be poured and seconds later sold but I have seen bars { not Operated by the WBC } where they are banging out hundreds of pints with no real demand and Managers stand there playing with their phones rather than instructing the MDU Operators the correct way to do it.

So if you want a freshly poured Cold pint ' pick the correct station '.

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

5 minutes ago, glasto-worker said:

yes sales are affected by the weather but hot weather does not create the most demand - sales are far higher when its Overcast but dry { using stats for the past 33 years } - in a well run bar the MDU { pours 12 pints at a time } will be run to minimise waste hence why there is not tons of full pints on the table on the right - in fact it must have been quiet ' as I would not have had the time to take these two photos ' and there is no drink in any of the Cups.

Depending on the size of the bar there can be up to 20 MDU's just cranking out lager and they are not in operation all at the same time - they are cranked up when there is high demand - A drinker should understand that in the large Counter bars { where you cant walk into } each gap in the tent is a station {bottom photo is Reading but if you count the gaps there is ' 16 stations { with 32 MDU's }} so if you spot hundreds of pints in station 1 and very few pints in station 2 then go to station 2 -  ' - staff are instructed not to cross a station although other bar operators are not as well organised.

Most times a pint will be poured and seconds later sold but I have seen bars { not Operated by the WBC } where they are banging out hundreds of pints with no real demand and Managers stand there playing with their phones rather than instructing the MDU Operators the correct way to do it.

So if you want a freshly poured Cold pint ' pick the correct station '.

Yeah, I think it was more the fact that ordering a beer or beers with the right cash, or just a tap of your card actually takes a few seconds. But if the queue is 5 deep and a few people are ordering about 5 different cocktails it still takes a good 20 minutes to get served. Would have loved it if some of the bars had beer/cider only sections.

Not that I don’t switch it up in the evening drink wise anyway, but during the 30 degree heat in the day nothing beat a nice cold pint, it’s just shame that in a lot of cases you had to endure 20 minutes in a sauna to get one.

Edited November 16, 2019 by Deaf Nobby Burton

[Bisque]

2 hours ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

Yeah, I think it was more the fact that ordering a beer or beers with the right cash, or just a tap of your card actually takes a few seconds. But if the queue is 5 deep and a few people are ordering about 5 different cocktails it still takes a good 20 minutes to get served. Would have loved it if some of the bars had beer/cider only sections.

Not that I don’t switch it up in the evening drink wise anyway, but during the 30 degree heat in the day nothing beat a nice cold pint, it’s just shame that in a lot of cases you had to endure 20 minutes in a sauna to get one.

Sziget has desperate queues for your pints, cans & wine to cocktails. It didn’t always work late at night but seemed effective as the site got busier during the day.

[Mark E. Spliff]

33 minutes ago, Bisque said:

Sziget has desperate queues for your pints, cans & wine to cocktails. It didn’t always work late at night but seemed effective as the site got busier during the day.

Sometimes auto-correct is determined to screw you over...  *separate

[BlueDaze]

1 hour ago, Mark E. Spliff said:

Sometimes auto-correct is determined to screw you over...  *separate

i was considering *disparate.....