Festivals across the country have sold out in record breaking time.  Events like Boomtown, Reading, Leeds and Creamfields, the so called ‘Party in the Park’,  sold out faster than ever before. When you think of the enormous fixed costs involved in putting on a festival such as Boomtown  (see Here) are festivals of all shapes and sizes leading the way to be followed by the wider events industry, starting with Business to Consumer events and then Business to Business Events, Conferences etc? At The Venue Booker we are certainly seeing this i.e. one of our largest B2C clients has signed contracts for a number of May dates. We are now experiencing a significant growth in enquiries for business to business events, with dates really starting from June.

The recently announced Government Roadmap has certainly resulted in increased confidence and actual events, albeit from a very low level. Here are a few of the key dates regarding festivals – (if you want to know the key dates regarding conferences they are )

• From 17th May at the earliest, indoor venues will be allowed to host performances with a capacity of either 1,000 people or half-full, whichever is lower. At outdoor venues, the capacity increases to 4,000 or half-full, whichever is lower. In “the largest outdoor seated venues, where crowds can be spread out”, up to 10,000 people will be able to attend, or quarter-full, whichever is lower.
• From 21^st June at the earliest, all social distancing rules are set to be removed, which seemingly signals a green light for festivals of all sizes to return.

There are still some question marks though. Will festival organisers have to provide Covid tests for all attendees? Or will only vaccinated people be allowed to attend? Many organisers have also raised the need for a government-backed cancellation insurance programme, which would let them plan their events without fear of losing money if the pandemic does not recede as hoped and they are forced to cancel.   Leeds and Reading Festivals have confirmed that they are going ahead, as have Parklife and Creamfields, all of which are major events in the festival calendar. Some festivals which were due to take place in June & July have announced new dates in September and tickets are on sale now.

As well as music festivals,  there are many Food and Beer festivals and Art events scheduled to take place in the Summer months,  so keep an eye out for these and any date changes.

If you are wondering whether or not to buy rickets, remember that you will be entitled to a refund if the event no longer goes ahead as planned, or if the dates are changed. Just make sure you buy from the official retailer, otherwise your consumer rights might be jeopardised.

Here at The Venue Booker we are offering free of charge venue finding service, so if you are looking for summer party venue with outside space, modern conference venue or traditional style venue for awards dinner, we’d be delighted to help. As a venue finding agency we work with thousands of leading venues who are covid secure and industry certified. If you’d like us to find you a venue, please get in touch!