Shows, tickets

Sanversera

Sanversera

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Wanted to watch a friend jumping at an agricultural show. Found out the ticket price,£24!. So that's £48 for me and my partner plus petrol plus more if we buy anything. Couldn't believe it. Not going. ot surprised events are not running.i read Shrewsbury flower show has been cancelled due to costs as have some eventing. We recently visited jodrell bank engagement centre, it's about £13 a ticket, concessions for children and pensioners and you can visit all year for that,go as often as you like.They have an arboretum and lovely picnic areas as well as children's play park and lots of activities for children. Must be a godsend in the holidays for families if you live locally like us , there's add ons too but it's only £5 for those. Very interesting place. Ditto national trust properties,parks and gardens. You can often see old types of sheep and cattle in n t farms,no need to pay through the nose to see them being dragged round a ring.i suppose if people are interested in showing horses sheep and so in they'll support but it's a lot of money for a couple and more for a family just to go and watch if they're not bothered about showing, just wanting a day out to see some animals and a few handicrafts.
 
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I remember visiting Jodrell bank on a school trip long long ago.


Agri show tickets have been around £20-£25 a ticket for a few years now. I suppose as admissions drop and cost rise it's the only way to keep these shows going. It will soon only be us hard core showing enthusiasts and the locals supporting there local show who will be attending.

I've seen more and more people selling there extra competitor tickets/wristbands online this year - guess the cost of living issue are hitting everyone.
 
The cost of running an Agri show is so astronomical that they have no choice - the profit made by a county show I know of was £2000 in 2024, and it is a BIG 4 day show that was plenty busy.

This year they were charged £20,000 in insurance just to have camels on site, plus imagine the insurance needed to have the Young Farmers - children with bullocks and rams in public, it must also be sky high, plus full security teams, parking teams, gate teams, litter teams, people to check the paperwork of the food vendors, the insurance for the horse competition, medics, stewards, judges, ring staff, animal welfare teams, co-ordinators, people running each tent and telling vendors where to set up, crowd control, announcers.

I do think it's expensive but I also think it's an important event for the local farming community and young farmers, so I do make the effort to pay it, and volunteer, just to support something I feel is quite important.
 
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£25 for a day out at a good show is quite fair. To watch a Premiership football match would be £40 and upwards in big chunks for 2 hours. We are lucky that Hope agricultural show Derbyshire, Bank holiday Monday 25 August is only £13 to get in 3 horse rings, cattle and sheep classes sheepdog trials gundog display classic cars and farm machinery horticulture etc a great day out for little money. (Yes I'm a tight Yorkshire man)
 
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I’ve had this dilemma with an event I’m organising - it’s with a world famous trainer who rarely teaches in the UK and there are limited spectator places available (no more than 10 a day).
I’ve decided to charge £40 per spectator place as I think it is a fair and reasonable price to spend the day watching and learning from someone who is a master and at the top of their game. It works out at less than £4.50 an hour, includes refreshments, a bit towards venue hire and the cost of me investing in a sound system so the audience can hear the clinician.
£40 is also about what I would expect to pay for a lesson round here with a run of the mill instructor, and yet I’ve had people message me saying that it is too steep.
 
Barlow said:
I’ve had this dilemma with an event I’m organising - it’s with a world famous trainer who rarely teaches in the UK and there are limited spectator places available (no more than 10 a day).
I’ve decided to charge £40 per spectator place as I think it is a fair and reasonable price to spend the day watching and learning from someone who is a master and at the top of their game. It works out at less than £4.50 an hour, includes refreshments, a bit towards venue hire and the cost of me investing in a sound system so the audience can hear the clinician.
£40 is also about what I would expect to pay for a lesson round here with a run of the mill instructor, and yet I’ve had people message me saying that it is too steep.
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That's fairly norm - I have spectated at clinics and normally pay around £40 to £50.
 
The issue here is how much of a draw is an agricultural show to those not involved in rural affairs. You want to get the casual non farming non horsey family to come along to boost numbers and at possibly £70 if you add a couple of children, you won't.

You can't really compare football as it has followers of a club that will pay huge amounts to see their team. I'm not convinced there are enough agri fans with the same level of enthusiasm. And cinema tickets start at £5.99 round here. Ticket prices have come down nationally in the last few years to compete with streaming and attendance is up.
 
AShetlandBitMeOnce said:
The cost of running an Agri show is so astronomical that they have no choice - the profit made by a county show I know of was £2000 in 2024, and it is a BIG 4 day show that was plenty busy.

This year they were charged £20,000 in insurance just to have camels on site, plus imagine the insurance needed to have the Young Farmers - children with bullocks and rams in public, it must also be sky high, plus full security teams, parking teams, gate teams, litter teams, people to check the paperwork of the food vendors, the insurance for the horse competition, medics, stewards, judges, ring staff, animal welfare teams, co-ordinators, people running each tent and telling vendors where to set up, crowd control, announcers.

I do think it's expensive but I also think it's an important event for the local farming community and young farmers, so I do make the effort to pay it, and volunteer, just to support something I feel is quite important.
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I imagine the medical cover is horrendous too. The amount our small riding club has to pay for cover for our shows always astounds me.
 
criso said:
The issue here is how much of a draw is an agricultural show to those not involved in rural affairs. You want to get the casual non farming non horsey family to come along to boost numbers and at possibly £70 if you add a couple of children, you won't.
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Exactly. I've no particular interest in farming or farm animals tbh. I do like horses and gardens. If it was a low entry fee I'd go for a different sort of day out, but the cost is far too much for a couple of pensioners.
 
These are prices for this years Moreton show (on the day) which seems pretty reasonable to me, it’s an agricultural show that draw huge crowds from all walks of life.
 

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dottylottie said:
my local ag show has decent pre entries but loads “don’t turn up”…someone pointed out to me that as you get 2 wristbands with a class entry, it’s cheaper to enter a class & not take the horse!
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A “life time ago” we used to do this with Dublin Horse Show. We lived in the North & with one entry we got 2 passes + hay & straw tickets. We gave those to friends when we got there.
 
MuddyMonster said:
Consisering it's £30 + for cinema tickets as a couple, £48 for a whole day out for two seems pretty reasonable to me especially given the costs involved in putting an agricultural show on.
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Cor, where are you going to the cinema? My local independent is £12 without discount (I get mine half price - £6 - as I paid £28 for membership of my local venue, as they do a lot of live events, too). Much nicer than the large chains - no sticky gum or feral groups of kids!

I used to be treasurer for a medium sized one day show staffed entirely by volunteers and it still cost us nearly £40k to put it on. The insurance bill was by far the greatest outlay and in latter years we had to hire security to protect the heavy plant and show infrastructure (a condition of the insurance!). I know that Ardingly Vintage Vehicle show had to fold because of insurance and rent costs. All the old men with vehicles refused to pay £5 a night camping charge, which was needed just for the show to break even. I did stop going to Surrey County Show when it hit £30, though. I'm just not that interested in soft furnishings and hot tubs, or cheap clothing that is about as Italian as I am. I don't compete and the tack stands weren't much of a draw for me - too tight with my money unless I need something!
 
Ugh I meant to quote @dottielottie above:
"my local ag show has decent pre entries but loads “don’t turn up”…someone pointed out to me that as you get 2 wristbands with a class entry, it’s cheaper to enter a class & not take the horse!"

This is the case at Cheshire Show - I know plenty of people who enter then withdraw on the day.
 
Fransurrey said:
Cor, where are you going to the cinema? My local independent is £12 without discount (I get mine half price - £6 - as I paid £28 for membership of my local venue, as they do a lot of live events, too). Much nicer than the large chains - no sticky gum or feral groups of kids!

I used to be treasurer for a medium sized one day show staffed entirely by volunteers and it still cost us nearly £40k to put it on. The insurance bill was by far the greatest outlay and in latter years we had to hire security to protect the heavy plant and show infrastructure (a condition of the insurance!). I know that Ardingly Vintage Vehicle show had to fold because of insurance and rent costs. All the old men with vehicles refused to pay £5 a night camping charge, which was needed just for the show to break even. I did stop going to Surrey County Show when it hit £30, though. I'm just not that interested in soft furnishings and hot tubs, or cheap clothing that is about as Italian as I am. I don't compete and the tack stands weren't much of a draw for me - too tight with my money unless I need something!
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The last Surrey County was in 2019, didn't go ahead in 2020 due to covid and hasn't returned since.
Nobody who was involved in the Society is able to return or pass on the old trophies, it's v sad really.
 
I hate the cinema, seems crazy to pay to sit in those awful chairs but we do have a lovely cinema about half an hour away where you can order real food and sit in comfy sofa like chairs. It's £15-20 a ticket but it's the only way I will take the kids to the cinema.
 
DeliaRides said:
Yes Cheshire Show is cheaper to enter and not take a horse, or it used to be anyway. Plenty of people do that locally.
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I was wondering about this. I saw a box at Lancs Show with about 10 people in it. Not sure if they actually had horses but was wondering whether each person needed a ticket.

I've been to most of the northern shows this year and a few more coming up this month. I think they're a good day out for the price.
 
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