It is no secret that festivals come with a hefty price tag. What might appear to be a long weekend of musical joy, often actually has to be bankrolled by stress inducing levels of bank account abuse.
From the cost of the ticket itself, which for Reading and Leeds 2024 would have set you back £291.50 for the weekend, to everything you consume once you walk through those gates, it’s a pricey affair.
The 52-year-old festival in the South of England tends to attract the younger generation – 16-year-olds who are celebrating (or drowning their sorrows) after receiving their GCSE results.
Many of those youngsters will have spent the four days splashing their mum and dad’s hard-earnt cash on canned cider and cheesy chips as if it grew on trees.
My experience wasn’t too dissimilar, although sadly, it was my own money I was parting with. Here’s how much I spent from Friday morning to Sunday night at Reading Festival.
Friday
11:00: I arrived at London Waterloo station with my ridiculously-sized rucksack weighing me down and I already feel broken. I know one thing for sure, I’m ready for a coffee. I was thrilled to see that Starbucks had launched its autumn menu, and as I can’t stand its iconic pumpkin spice latte, I opted for an iced salted maple & caramel latte. Even with a crunchy caramel top and a sweet greeting from the server, it wasn’t worth the £6.40 I paid for it. We weren’t getting off to a good start, but the £1.40 pain au chocolat was much more reasonable.
11:20: Return train ticket with a 16-25 railcard from London Waterloo to Reading set me back £23.35.
12.53: “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere, right?” became my mantra over the long weekend so we decided to pop into the Sainsbury’s Local in Reading town centre to pick up some cans for the journey before heading to the festival ground. I picked up 10 cans of Shake Baby Shake cocktails for £14.50 and cracked one open on the £1.50 shuttle bus from the town to the event.
17.45: After a gruelling mile-long trek with my oversized bag, tent, camping chair and 10 tinnies to the camp site, we eventually managed to find a space – albeit small – to pitch up our tent. We put on our glitzy outfits and headed in to see what all the fuss was about.
It was hungry work and I was pleased to see there was a lot of choice, which was something I was worried about as a veggie. There was plant-based Portuguese food, chickpea curries and jackfruit burritos, but it was the mouth-watering scent coming from the stone baked pizza tent that drew me in.
I paid £13.50 for a very decent sized vegetarian pizza which had mushrooms, onions, peppers and black olives on it. I enjoyed it with a £2.60 garlic and herb dip (not so reasonable), a £7 can of Mango White Claw, and a £2.60 can of Liquid Death water – overall, not too shabby.
18.30: Two Door Cinema Club were about to begin their set on the Main Stage so braved the huge bar queue with my pal so I could enjoy the indie music with an ice-cold White Claw (I went for a raspberry one this time). I don’t know about you, but I don’t think £7 for a can of hard seltzer, £6.90 for a can of Somersby Cider and £7.50 for a 187ml plastic cup of wine isn’t too bad.
22.26 (very approximately): The rest of the evening was a bit of a blur but I do remember buying four more White Claws. I thought I was a genius for buying two at a time to save me having to stand around making small talk with drunk revellers in the queue for a minimum of 30 minutes.
Smart, you may be thinking… but think again. The bar staff had a rule of opening every drink before giving it to you, so instead of just holding both drinks in my hands until I was finished with one and could throw it away, I thought it would be a great idea to try and wedge the other in my bum bag, inevitably drenching myself as I jumped around to blink-182’s All the Small Things.
Total for the day: £107.85
Saturday
09.05: I am never going camping again. The torrential rain woke me up so much earlier than I would have liked. My head was pounding from a night of ear-piercingly loud music, admittedly, one too many drinks, and youngsters shouting “Alan” all night long (if you’ve been to Reading or Leeds Festival before, you’ll know what I mean).
I was defeated so it was a tent breakfast of two chocolate digestive biscuits that I brought with me from home for me. I slowly nibbled on them until I mustered up the energy to get up and ready for day two at the festival.
15.02: Luckily for me (and my weary legs from the day before), we were able to enjoy most of the day from a viewing platform, which had its own bar, shelter and most importantly, seats overlooking the Main Stage. I’m showing my age here, but it was the best thing to be able to sit down and hide away from the terrible weather.
Still feeling delicate from the night before, we decided to take a very slow walk over to the main strip of food stalls in the arena to line my stomach before braving another drink. I needed something warm, comforting and full of carbs, so I went for some loaded fries. If I had to rate them out of 10, considering I paid £13 for a small-ish bowl of soggy chips, some bland tomato sauce and a slab of melted cheese, I would give it a generous 5. The Pepsi Max Cherry I washed it down with was a treat though – £4.
18.45: Feeling much more alive, I was ready to start drinking again. I stuck to Somersby Cider at £6.50 for a 568ml can on Saturday. I wasn’t mad at the price and happily tapped my card, returning to my seat with two cans, which I sipped and listened to Raye’s magical performance.
21.44: After enjoying Bleachers, Raye, Fontaines DC, and Lana del Rey warm, dry and comfortable, it wouldn’t have been right for me to sit there all day so I got some food before Fred Again.
I am a halloumi fiend so when I saw the gyros stand, I’m not exaggerating when I say I ran. My halloumi pitta wrap, which was packed with warm chips, creamy tzatziki and fresh salad, cost me £10 and it was everything I needed.
23.09: I bought two more cans of Somersby which I drank during The Wombats. It was a harder task than you might imagine as hundreds of fans were packed into the BBC Radio 1 tent tightly like sardines so I could hardly move my arms from my side.
Total for the day: £53
Sunday
10.41: Oh sunlight, where have you been? Despite waking up multiple times in the night shivering and frantically looking for layers to throw on to keep warm, I woke up gasping for some fresh air as the morning sun turned our tent into what can only be described as an oven.
The walk from white camp – our home for the long weekend – to the arena was heavenly in comparison to the day before – the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, but my stomach was rumbling.
When we got to the arena, we stumbled across a man munching on the crispiest looking toastie I had even seen. I had to know where he got it from. Once I’d located the stall, I scanned the menu and settled on “The OG” – a classic cheese toastie with added chutney for £9. The server asked me if I wanted to upgrade for £12.50 and get some fries and coleslaw as well – I did. The toastie attracted a lot of attention from hungry festival goers and I would say it was definitely worth the money, but the chips were a little too soggy for my liking.
12.01: It was heating up and I realised I hadn’t had anything to drink yet that day, so I bought a £4 Pepsi Max Cherry and a £2.60 can of Liquid Death.
14.23: We managed to squeeze in a few more acts before we called it a day. We headed home early because my friend thought a festival was a good time to wear in her new boots (it wasn’t) so her feet were covered in blisters.
Before the dreaded walk back to camp to pack everything down, I went for a halloumi box from the same gyros stand I went to the night before to give me some fuel. I know I could have been more adventurous, with the array of cuisines on offer at the event, but it was tasty, familiar, and relatively healthy (right?). It was £14 and I would 100 per cent recommend it.
17.00: It was time for the mile-long walk out of the festival. With my considerably lighter rucksack on my back, and my friend dragging her foot behind her as she walked at a snail’s pace, I thought the journey would feel slightly easier if we had a sweet treat to enjoy while we were doing it. The over-priced and on-the-dry-side churros eased the pain (for me anyway) but at £7 for six, if it wasn’t before this point, my wallet was certainly feeling it now.
17.46: We were free! We survived the trek and agreed that it was only right that we treated ourselves to a taxi to Reading station to avoid the walk. We correctly pre-empted that we would be feeling flattened after two nights sleeping in a tent surrounded by screaming teenagers, so we pre-booked an Addison Lee to pick us up from the main entrance, setting us back £58 for a six, yes six, minute drive.
18.58: Now for the penultimate leg of the journey – a train from Reading to London Paddington, which I’d already bought my ticket for. We sat down, got comfy and both shut our eyes, falling asleep instantly, until we were woken up by the driver announcing that due to a trespasser in the Big Smoke, there was no route into the city, so the train had to return to Reading. We had only made it to Maidenhead, so we decided to jump off there and split a £48.99 Uber four ways with two other stranded festival-goers who were equally as desperate to get back to London.
20.22: We were so close I could almost taste it. Just one more Uber – our third taxi of the day – because my friend and her poorly foot couldn’t brave the London Underground packed full of people coming back from Notting Hill Carnival. It was £28.99 and I can confirm that after this long weekend of excessive spending, my wallet will stay very firmly closed for the rest of the month.
Total for the day: £139.29
Overall: £300.14 (plus £291.50 for ticket)
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