Anyone live or lived in Pilton?

[Jacko45]

I'm completely obsessed with the "Showdown at Glastonbury" documentary. 

 

Think it's completely fascinating, the whole idea of Pilton fascinates me tbh. 

 

I live in a village of a similar size one that has tourism but to imagine my small village for one week a year being invaded by 200,000+ people. 

 

Basically a city appearing next door is a crazy concept to me.

 

Would love to hear what it's like for people in the village and closely surrounding villages. 

[gooner1990]

I watched that again recently.....great snapshot of what the festival was like in the early 1990s, and despite how we all hold up ME as a god, there was a lot of crap put onto the locals which took some time to iron out!

[StuwieG]

Where can you watch this? 

[gooner1990]

3 minutes ago, StuwieG said:

Where can you watch this? 

 

[Jacko45]

30 minutes ago, gooner1990 said:

I watched that again recently.....great snapshot of what the festival was like in the early 1990s, and despite how we all hold up ME as a god, there was a lot of crap put onto the locals which took some time to iron out!

 

It's just very very interesting, I see all sides of the argument. 

 

Eavis is fantastic in it, the man seems to be completely unflappable. 

[Avalon_Fields]

I walked around Pilton a few weeks ago, it was already restricted traffic entry, so although they are so close to the festival to some extent they are well cordoned off from it, apart from the noise I guess many of the Pilton residents carry on much as normal. Certainly some don't go to the festival at all.

[gooner1990]

16 minutes ago, Jacko45 said:

 

It's just very very interesting, I see all sides of the argument. 

 

Eavis is fantastic in it, the man seems to be completely unflappable. 

 

For all the fact that its a well run event now, it hasn't always been the case and some of the travellers etc did cause a lot of issues for ME and the locals around the farm at the time.  Thankfully it came out the other side fine for the next generation of Glastonbury goers to enjoy as I think it was heading towards not being allowed on anymore....

 

He does seem to handle it very well I agree!

[tomf3]

I think it's a big imposition for the locals. I went to visit a friend there on a Sunday 10 days before the fest in 2022 and aside from the obvious security at the village entrance, the road through the middle of the village was totally blocked by an empty jeep and then further down a crane that was clearly going to be there for a long time. I can only imagine that stuff happens for a few months of the year and would be frustrating if you were in a rush and were blocked in, but is just something you'd have to accept.

[kalifire]

I've not (yet) seen the documentary, but the entire dynamic does seem utterly fascinating to me. It cannot possibly be the case - legally - that in order to buy a property in Pilton, you also have to accept that 25% of the year, your quality of life is going to be significantly disrupted. It could also be construed as bribery that the festival try and pay their way to peace locally. There must be a very delicate fine line that locals will be able to speak to much better than anyone else.

Edited May 28 by kalifire

[UEF]

It's a really interesting place to look around in the off-season, the sort of place where you'd go and live to "get away from it all", so I can understand their frustration. Still, everyone involved has done it for enough years now that they seem to have some sort of agreeable system worked out.

 

 

[CaledonianGonzo]

4 minutes ago, kalifire said:

I've not (yet) seen the documentary, but the entire dynamic does seem utterly fascinating to me. It cannot possibly be the case - legally - that in order to buy a property in Pilton, you also have to accept that 25% of the year, your quality of life is going to be significantly disrupted. It could also be construed as bribery that the festival try and pay their way to peace locally. There must be a very delicate fine line that locals will be able to speak to much better than anyone else.

While I'm sure it's a delicate trade-off, on the balance side I'd imagine it's got to have a positive impact on property prices - and if you happen to own land then you can go into the glamping business and start planning for an early retirement.

[pilton digger]

its not really a problem, but it is something that intrudes on a lot of village life for most of the year. Actual direct festival activity that starts to impact in some way starts around April and ends around August. This year it has seemed to be a few weeks or more ahead of normal, AA signs and other signs started appearing in April, normally May.

 

There are security dudes on all entrances to the Farm since late April when it is usually mid may, and we can't access the farm now. Normally we run the farm until thrown off about 2 weeks before the festival. Security has been beefed up for this year in lots of ways.

 

Last year a 40 foot arctic heading for the festival turned down a narrow lane, grounded and blocked the A361 by the pub.  Had to be dragged out by guys who work at Worthy with 2 telehandlers in a chain as the police were feckin useless. We now have security on entrances to the village to stop festival commercial traffic turning into the wrong road and to avoid a repeat.  Poor bugger has been sat outside for 10 hours a day on weekdays for the last three weeks.

 

There are some who don't like it, usually have moved in next to it and then decided to be a pain in the arse. On the whole it is no real problem for us, it has put massive amounts of money into village life and will continue to do so.

 

There are Pilton Party auditions for a few months, the actual party in September.  There are Pilton Stage auditions for bands to play at Avalon for a few months. There are regular liaison meetings with GFL for people to address concerns and review what happened. It is a very large thing that is involved in everything in some way, loads of people work for it either full time, seasonally or as a volunteer.

 

One pain in the tits are the self absorbed w*nkers who go down closed roads to try and avoid traffic, or use routes that look good but where festival traffic shouldn't be. The local roads are where the locals get to work / school / hospital during the chaos. Kids have missed GCSEs because of some c**t blocking a road.

 

The place would be poorer and duller without it.

[Jacko45]

3 minutes ago, pilton digger said:

its not really a problem, but it is something that intrudes on a lot of village life for most of the year. Actual direct festival activity that starts to impact in some way starts around April and ends around August. This year it has seemed to be a few weeks or more ahead of normal, AA signs and other signs started appearing in April, normally May.

 

There are security dudes on all entrances to the Farm since late April when it is usually mid may, and we can't access the farm now. Normally we run the farm until thrown off about 2 weeks before the festival. Security has been beefed up for this year in lots of ways.

 

Last year a 40 foot arctic heading for the festival turned down a narrow lane, grounded and blocked the A361 by the pub.  Had to be dragged out by guys who work at Worthy with 2 telehandlers in a chain as the police were feckin useless. We now have security on entrances to the village to stop festival commercial traffic turning into the wrong road and to avoid a repeat.  Poor bugger has been sat outside for 10 hours a day on weekdays for the last three weeks.

 

There are some who don't like it, usually have moved in next to it and then decided to be a pain in the arse. On the whole it is no real problem for us, it has put massive amounts of money into village life and will continue to do so.

 

There are Pilton Party auditions for a few months, the actual party in September.  There are Pilton Stage auditions for bands to play at Avalon for a few months. There are regular liaison meetings with GFL for people to address concerns and review what happened. It is a very large thing that is involved in everything in some way, loads of people work for it either full time, seasonally or as a volunteer.

 

One pain in the tits are the self absorbed w*nkers who go down closed roads to try and avoid traffic, or use routes that look good but where festival traffic shouldn't be. The local roads are where the locals get to work / school / hospital during the chaos. Kids have missed GCSEs because of some c**t blocking a road.

 

The place would be poorer and duller without it.

 

That's great info!

 

Sounds a silly question, but how loud is it in say the centre of village?

[pilton digger]

1 minute ago, Jacko45 said:

 

That's great info!

 

Sounds a silly question, but how loud is it in say the centre of village?

depends on the wind and where you are, the higher up the more obvious it is. The farm is in the valley, the village is to some extent shielded by that. If people don't like it, they can have the ticket price to go away for the weekend. Some that complain are still happy to take the ticket and cash in displaying good levels of hypocracy.

[pilton digger]

14 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

While I'm sure it's a delicate trade-off, on the balance side I'd imagine it's got to have a positive impact on property prices - and if you happen to own land then you can go into the glamping business and start planning for an early retirement.

as far as I know, there are 34 private campsites this year.

[Jacko45]

4 minutes ago, pilton digger said:

depends on the wind and where you are, the higher up the more obvious it is. The farm is in the valley, the village is to some extent shielded by that. If people don't like it, they can have the ticket price to go away for the weekend. Some that complain are still happy to take the ticket and cash in displaying good levels of hypocracy.

 

Must be a beautiful place to live on the whole, about as chocolate box English village as it gets. 

 

[pilton digger]

21 minutes ago, kalifire said:

in order to buy a property in Pilton, you also have to accept that 25% of the year, your quality of life is going to be significantly disrupted. It could also be construed as bribery that the festival try and pay their way to peace locally. There must be a very delicate fine line that locals will be able to speak to much better than anyone else.

not significantly, mild inconvenience at worst. The festival puts money into the area because ME cares about the place,  It is not for PR. The festival chose to pay a huge amount to level the football pitch and build a new pavilion to improve village facilities. Hardly something that constitutes bribery.

[pilton digger]

Just now, Jacko45 said:

 

Must be a beautiful place to live on the whole, about as chocolate box English village as it gets. 

 

great place to live but as with all villages, riddled with self important rich feckers and village politics.

[gooner1990]

25 minutes ago, pilton digger said:

great place to live but as with all villages, riddled with self important rich feckers and village politics.

 

me and my partner stayed in west pennard for two nights at christmas 2022 and did lots all over locally...thought it was a nice place. 🙂 

[The Orgazoid]

57 minutes ago, kalifire said:

I've not (yet) seen the documentary, but the entire dynamic does seem utterly fascinating to me. It cannot possibly be the case - legally - that in order to buy a property in Pilton, you also have to accept that 25% of the year, your quality of life is going to be significantly disrupted. It could also be construed as bribery that the festival try and pay their way to peace locally. There must be a very delicate fine line that locals will be able to speak to much better than anyone else.

When you buy a property, you have a very limited say about what happens beyond your boundary. Despite your objections, anything could be granted planning permission, you cant really take anything for granted that may either exist, or not exist at the point you buy a property. Realistically you aren't buying a property in Pilton now unless the benefit of its location to the festival aren't a specific net benefit to you, they certainly aren't cheaper, so that wouldn't be a reason for anyone buying. At least unlike any other location, you know exactly what you're getting yourself into, for better or worse.

[SquaredCircle1]

Just watched the entire doc start to finish!

 

Very interesting, I didn’t quite understand the problems Michael had to contend with.
 

You can very much understand the frustrations of people who have lived their whole lives but the people who bought a house after the festival had been held have a little less to complain albeit it did balloon in size. 
 

The culture of the UK is so much better for the fact they didn’t manage to get it cancelled. For that we’re all very lucky. 

[irnkrtn]

1 hour ago, kalifire said:

I've not (yet) seen the documentary, but the entire dynamic does seem utterly fascinating to me. It cannot possibly be the case - legally - that in order to buy a property in Pilton, you also have to accept that 25% of the year, your quality of life is going to be significantly disrupted. It could also be construed as bribery that the festival try and pay their way to peace locally. There must be a very delicate fine line that locals will be able to speak to much better than anyone else.

I think about this all the time! I suppose its a bit like living near an airport. I wonder if it impacts on the prices?

[The Orgazoid]

I watched it a long time ago, but i believe the main woman in its son, with the cross on her land now runs glamping from it, so the festival and her decision to buy in Pilton in the first place turned into great legacy for her family, financially speaking.

[The Orgazoid]

1 minute ago, irnkrtn said:

I think about this all the time! I suppose its a bit like living near an airport. I wonder if it impacts on the prices?

Properties are more expensive there than they otherwise would be, anybody buying there now does so because of the location, not despite of it.

[gfa]

20 minutes ago, irnkrtn said:

I think about this all the time! I suppose its a bit like living near an airport. I wonder if it impacts on the prices?

 

17 minutes ago, The Orgazoid said:

Properties are more expensive there than they otherwise would be, anybody buying there now does so because of the location, not despite of it.

Adding on to this - this is particularly the case because theres very limited housing stock in Pilton - vs a million homes that get impacted by say Heathrow