Great Western Coffee Shop

The music festival, not the town!   ;D

http://www.indexwiltshire.co.uk/glastonbury-festival-set-to-relocate-to-new-wiltshire-home/


Posting under "London to Kennet Valley" as that's the way most rail traffic would come, and I would suspect that it would be road transfer from Westbury.  Somehow I don't think that either Dilton Marsh or Warminster would have the capacity needed.   And Westbury is a major hub station - not only with capacity for expresses from London and from the West, but trains coming up from Southampton, from Weymouth, from Bristol and from Swindon.

Perhaps also Mr Eavis would like to retire and flog the farm?

More seriously, Westbury would make sense as a railhead

It makes perfect sense for the once hippy festival to move to the estate of Lord Bath. Lucky festival-goers might end up as wifelets! Others might get their portraits painted or inspire him to poetry. And unlucky bands who fail to please the crowd can be fed to the lions.

From the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-38369127):

If you're looking for an existing venue / site, could it be somewhere like Silverstone?

Glastonbury Festival is usually on during the motor racing season. I think it highly unlikely the BRDC would want their diary blocked for five days in early summer for a non motor racing event.

How many acres/square km is the current festival? Bath & Wells showground?

Hardly "100 miles towards the Midlands" though ... of course, if there was a typo in the original article and it were to be 10 miles ...

Milton Keynes Dome?

Glastonbury Festival site, 900 acres. Bath and Wells Showground, 240 acres.

Silverstone and environs owned by the BRDC and others, however unlikely a venue, is around 750 acres.

MK Dome is really small in comparison, definitely smaller than Silverstone. And well over 100 miles away

It's a bowl not a dome.  ;)

Agree it's far too small for a five day festival.

Of course, I knew that

Three Counties Showground?   http://www.threecounties.co.uk  (hey, it's fun speculating ...)

Oh, the good burghers of Malvern will love 175,000 fans in their neck of the woods, not!

Wherever a massive event were to move, you're likely to find an element of local people not wanting it, and / or an element of it displacing other events at the same venue - witness the Silverstone comments.  The question "where is there that's about 100 miles somewhat north and a bit east of Somerset that could host this ... either existing or temporary build" is an interesting one ...

How about the middle of the English channel? (Bah, humbug!)  ;D

Graham - agreed, and I suspect Eavis will have a hard job obtaining a licence. I think those in situ of the area he chooses are quite entitled not to have 175,000 pax foisted on them, frankly.

Donnington.

The Three Counties Showground crossed my mind too, but they always host the annual Three Counties Show in mid June, so there would not be enough time to prepare the site for Glasto. Phew!

There are probably hundreds of country estates in the south Midlands all about 100 miles from Glastonbury, so there's plenty to choose from.

Probably more on topic for this forum, how do train companies normally deal with what would be impossibly large loadings, such as would be expected when Glastonbury finishes. I know that the trains coming through Bath from Castle Cary after Glastonbury are invariably crammed and not that pleasant to be in! Have discussions taken place between Eavis and the TOCs?

Additional HST calls made at Castle Cary. Queueing system in place there too. Buses running between there and Worthy Farm.

Other services - such as Paddington to Cardiff (and Paddington to Cheltenham Spa?) - scaled back to provide sets for extra trains - or is that just for the Gold Cup race meeting?

There are also times where the TOC or someone else in the rail industry believes it cannot cope with the extra demand safety and doesn't try - there have been examples when events finish at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff (historic, or has that happened recently?)  and the current GWR trains off Brighton have very recently been  skip-stopped at what appears to be the instigation of the Southern Station Manager for the area for fear of unmanageable crowds.

There is - very much - feedback given to (and taken into account by) the TOC concerning special events.  With many events held around the area, it's quite hard to judge which are going to be the ones which bring exceptional traffic onto a service as event organisers tend to over-estimate, and there's also the issue that GWR based in Swindon Towers may not realise that the Yetminster Living Village Nativity is going to add hundreds of passengers back to Yeovil on the final train of the day.  In any case, several hundred people would fit onto a 150 that's otherwise pretty empty ...

It doesn't need to be a special event, trains to the Westcountry Every Friday evening/holiday period being a prime example of where GWR have given up on trying to meet demand or ensure safety.

Where Cardiff post Millennium stadium is concerned, I have experienced it a couple of times and the general tactic seems to be to warn everyone that the last train is at a particular time...........and then run a couple of extra trains anyway. The queueing generally works pretty well, probably because rugby supporters tend to know how to behave themselves unlike the Fussball crowd.

The Glastonbury arrangements always seem to work pretty well at Paddington, and the nervous faces when the Police sniffer dogs make their way down the queue are always amusing!!!

Why managed boarding can't be arranged during other chaotic times (ie the aforementioned Westcountry trains, particularly the much dreaded 1903) is always a mystery.............if I ever get a reply to my questions to FGW on this issue (on the London to the West thread, been waiting 2 months now), I will share it!!!  :)

I believe that's what FGW's tactic is after rugby matches, particularly when England are involved, at the Principality Stadium, but ATW tend to just bury their heads and roll out the 'no extra stock' line (not sure if there is some political motivation behind that), although I'm not sure if they strengthen services rather than running additional trains.

I think your last comment is a little unfair, even if in jest - I've had more experience on public transport of exemplary behaviour from football supporters than I have with rugby watchers (I suspect the availability of alcohol inside the stadia may play a part). I don't think you can pigeon hole rugby or football supporters any more - both fan bases have changed significantly over the last decade or two and both sets generally behave pretty well, at least in the UK.

If you believe the WRU, should be "at Principality Stadium", with the "the" never used.  Can't get used to that myself, not that I can get used to not calling it the Millennium Stadium either!

Does Welsh use articles? Perhaps it doesn't and they're 'translating' the name from Welsh to English?

Right, it's clear now. The new Glasto – to be called Variety Bazaar – will be in Teh Arenal. Or up on the Downs. Or maybe in Leigh Woods? Could even be Brandon Hill (no it could not!).
http://www.bristol247.com/channel/festival/news-5/bristol-festivals/glasto-to-move-home-in-2019

Noting the map and the thread title leads me to ... Badminton. Nearest stations Chippenham and Bath, both of which are very interesting in terms of handling extra passenger numbers and in terms of road access to / from the station in the direction of the concerts!

... or Kemble.  ;) :D ;D

Goring, possibly? ...

Are you not getting confused with Pamplona?