Galtres festival is the UK's first independent festival to go 100% cashless

Galtres Festival 2013

Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th August 2013
Duncombe Park, Helmsley, York, North Yorkshire, YO62 5EB, England MAP
£95, child (5-15) £20 family (2a + 3c) £270

Daily capacity: 10,000

Galtres Parklands Festival will become the UK’s first independent festival to go 100% cashless using RFID card devices over three days this year on August bank holiday weekend, from Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th August 2013 at Duncombe Park, Helmsley, near York, in North Yorkshire.

The festival has previously operated a paper-voucher system. This year sees festival goers issued with festival-branded 'G-Cards' which can be used to purchase food, drinks and other items across the festival site. The cards can be pre-loaded before the event and at customer service booths on-site which will provide loading, top-up and balance-checking services as part of an electronic closed-loop payment facility.

Those who have already ordered books of paper vouchers from the online shop will now receive a G-Card instead, pre-loaded with credit to the value of the vouchers they have paid for.

Galtres has adopted the system for a variety of reasons but their main thinking behind it is because they believe the system will continue to support their preference for attracting small, local food producers and stallholders. Most events charge a fixed rent to traders, which can range from £500 - £5000 or more regardless of how much business they do. This can be risky or prohibitive to small home-based businesses however Galtres, charges a percentage of the traders take instead.

For those with money still on their cards after the festival there will be opportunities to spend any remaining credit on the Monday after the festival, and if the same system is used next year or at other events, their credit will be carried forwards. Otherwise, anything left will be donated to the festival's charities.

For data protection purposes payment data will be held by whichever banking provider is used - World Pay etc - and all other data is passed back to the festival directly.

The festival hosts Reef, Maximo Park, The Undertones, The Stranglers, Lloyd Cole, Johnny Borrell, Freankie & The Heartstrings, Nick Harper, Bridie Jackson and The Arbour, Paul Liddell, Sarah Dean, and York based rockers We Could Be Astronauts, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Chris Helme, Holy Moly & the Crackers, Maia, Boss Caine, Counting Coins, David Ward Maclean, Horse Guards Parade, Littlemores, Ryan Spendlove, The Blueprints, The Talks, and Blackbeard's Tea Party. More than 100 bands will play Galtres Festival on seven stages.

For the line-up details as available please click here.

Now in its ninth year, the little festival that started life at the back of The Durham Ox in Crayke, returns in its regular August Bank Holiday slot but at a new venue, set in several hundred acres of parkland and with the backdrop of the Baroque mansion of Duncombe Park.

An adult weekend ticket is priced at £95, child (aged 5 -15 years) tickets are priced at £20, a family ticket (2 adults and up to three children) is priced at £270. Day tickets are priced at £35 for Friday and £40 for Saturday or Sunday. A camping (per tent) ticket is priced from £10 to £40 depending upon size of tent.

buy tickets now >

discuss this news on the Festival Forums