are The Secret Garden Party taking the piss-up?

**UPDATE**

Following this article being published yesterday, The Secret Garden Party have sent us a statement. Please see here.

** UPDATE ENDS**

Alcohol is always a bit of a festival dilemma.

We all want to party and most of us want a bit of lubricant to help us along, while a festival has to try and manage the finances.  With a big spend at festival bars the alcohol concession is valuable, and so it’s long been the case at many festivals that there’s restrictions on how much alcohol a person can take in, and often none can be taken into the festival arena.

Instead, the drinks have to be bought at the festival bars, and while it’s often claimed beforehand that they’ll be “at pub prices” they’re normally prices few of us would be happy to pay in any pub.

Cambridgeshire’s The Secret Garden Party have – or had - gone a step further for 2017, and done what we’ve never heard of before from a festival. They had on their website earlier today that NO alcohol can be brought to the festival. Instead, it said that festival goers could instead pre-order a small-ish amount “at supermarket prices” for collection at the festival.

We emailed SGP’s press person earlier today, to ask for their comments before writing this. We got no reply. Now the “no alcohol” thing has been removed from the SGP website, and the press person isn’t contactable.

Because they’ve chosen to be silent, we’ve chosen not to be. SGP’s ticket-buyers need to know what terms of entry apply to their tickets.

WHAT’S GOING ON, SGP??? Are you taking the piss-up, or not?