With festival season now in full swing and Glastonbury underway, millions of Brits are taking the chance to put on their dancing shoes and party in the summer sun.
While the freedom of open-air festivals give revellers a chance to see their favourite artists, punters will soon be brought back down to earth if they want to purchase a drink at a major music event this summer.
Seeking to charge thirsty festivalgoers a premium for a humble pint of beer, prices have soared towards the £10 mark at some venues.
At Glastonbury this weekend, the cheapest pint available to ticket holders comes in at £6.75, which compares similarly to this year’s Isle of Wight festival, where it costs five pence more at £6.80.
Closer to the capital, some Taylor Swift fans may have left Wembley Stadium feeling short-changed, as they were required to fork out £7.85.
Download (2022) – £6.50
Reading (2023) – £6.50
BST Hyde Park (2023) – £6.50
Glastonbury – £6.75
Isle of Wight – £6.80
Foo Fighters at London Stadium – £7
Taylor Swift at Wembley – £7.85
The O2 – £8.95 (Premier League Darts)
The most expensive pint at Britain’s biggest gig venues is at The O2 in Greenwich, south-east London, where sports sports fans were charged a whopping £8.95 for a pint of Budweiser at last month’s Premier League Darts.
Elsewhere, Foo Fighters fans were forced to fork out £7 for a pint to quench their thirst at the London Stadium, home of West Ham United Football Club, earlier this month.
Next month thousands of music lovers will be heading to Reading, Leeds, Download and BST festivals.
But while they can look forward to acts like xxx – the price of pint may sour their mood.
In 2023, Reading, Download and BST Hyde Park festivals all charged the same amount of £6.50 per pint – but it remains to be seen as to whether the prices at Reading and Hyde Park will change this summer.
Hospitality and consumer expert Laura Harvey said: ‘Firstly, I do agree that the price of a pint is disheartening for the festival attendees.
‘However, the reason for the inflated costs is that energy costs are still high, and breweries have to raise their prices as a result of their own increased energy bills, this is then passed on to the bars.
‘A lower rate of VAT would support hospitality businesses and drive economic growth, helping to keep prices down.
‘So, whilst I agree the prices are high, I can understand. There are some hospitality venues outside London who are having to sell a pint of premium lager at £5.95 to make their own margin. The government needs to do more to support hospitality businesses and reduce the VAT.’
In response to the publication of drinks prices by an insider at Worthy Far,m, which appeared on X, formerly Twitter, Glastonbury revellers have slammed the ‘criminal’ listings at the festival.
The prices have been branded ‘insane’ and ‘criminal’ with the starting price for a pint of beer £6.75, while a bottle of wine costs a staggering £30.
They are a slight increase on last year’s mammoth prices of £6.50 and £29, respectively.
A bottle of Prosecco will set festival-goers back £43.50, more than three times the amount for a bottle of Freixenet Prosecco which retails at £12.
Meanwhile, those who prefer spirits will have to pay out a minimum of £12.50 for a double and a mixer, with the maximum appearing to be a double spirit and Red Bull for £13.50.
An Aperol Spritz is the priciest cocktail at £12.50 with a Pornstar Martini costing £9.50.
A 250ml Red Bull energy drink is priced at £4.75 alone – a 197 per cent increase on the £1.60 retail price.
Others were left enraged by the £2.50 price for a can of water – although there are free water drinking points at the site.
There are more than 100 bars on the festival site with the Village Inn sitting to the left of the Pyramid stage.
X users have been left flabbergasted over the inflated prices with one writing: ‘£2.50 for a can of water is criminal.’
Another wrote: ‘Some of those prices are insane. 43 quid for a bottle of wine! You can buy a quality vintage for that money.’
A third posted a laughing emoji alongside a message that read: ‘£6 for a pint of coke.’
‘Drink prices at events these days are ridiculous,’ another raged.
‘They’ve basically doubled in about 4 years. I’m taking multiple coolboxes and frozen water bottles and will buy extra ice on Sunday. Last year only bought 3 drinks and had coldies all festie. No queues either!’
But others didn’t seem too bothered with one punter saying it was better than at his local.
While another pointed out that the money went to a good cause, saying: ‘Not bad prices compared to stadiums also the money goes to workers beer company. Great organisation’
Soaring alcohol costs are nothing new – with the price of a pint in London heading towards the £9 mark.
Industry chiefs say pubs fearful for their own futures are under mounting pressures such as soaring rising energy bills, competition from supermarkets and still playing catch-up with rents after Covid-19 lockdown-inflicted closures.
Office for National Statistics figures showed the nationwide average for a pint of lager leapt by 10.8 per cent in the 12 months to last December – from £4.24 to £4.70 and the British Beer and Pub Association says it is now £4.80 – and £5.69 across London.
Draught bitter was up by 9.1 per cent, hitting £3.93 rather than the previous £3.60 – while experts have warned pints in London could even rise to £14 next year.
But Londoners are finding themselves paying far more, with punters relating tales of being charged as much as £8.50 per pint at the Trafalgar Tavern in Greenwich, south-east London.
That Grade II-listed riverside pub beside the Thames actually displays on its website prices peaking at £8.80 for a draught pint of Brixton Coldharbour Lager.