FAQ's

Boomtown is set in the rolling hills of Matterley Estate, a working dairy farm in the most westerly point of South Downs National park, near Winchester. Exact routing information will be sent with your ticket, please follow it carefully! 

Boomtown takes place over the second week of August between 9th-13th August 2023.

The Matterley estate is a green-field site that utilises the natural amphitheatre, neighbouring woodland and the surrounding fields to form the unique festival experience of Boomtown.

Details of Boomtown's layout will be announced closer to the festival. We will announce this via our social channels and in our newsletter.

Yes! Boomtown has comprehensive access facilities in place in order to welcome deaf and disabled citizens. This includes free Personal Assistant tickets, a dedicated accessibility campsite and extensive wide access facilities located throughout the site. 

Find out more about the support available on our Accessibility info page. If you have a specific access need you’d like to discuss or have any questions about our existing facilities, please do get in touch with the access team who can assist you further: access@boomtownfair.co.uk

Boomtown welcomes families bringing teens or children with them. All teens must be accompanied by a parent or guardian aged 30 or over throughout the duration of the festival. Unaccompanied teens cannot attend Boomtown.

Teen tickets may only be purchased by the accompanying parent/guardian after they buy their own adult ticket. The same adult MUST be with the teen(s) when they collect their wristbands and accompany the teen at during the event.

Please note, as per the age policy on our terms and conditions only persons aged 18 or over on their day of entry to the festival may enter the festival using an Adult ticket.

As with most larger festival sites, phone signal does tend to be a bit hit and miss. There are no payphones onsite so it's best to do things the old fashioned way and plan a pre-arranged meeting spot. Our app also has some offline functionality, so you’ll still be able to check the programme & the map!

The legislation regarding smoking inside public places applies to tented venues in the same way it does at your favourite club or pub. You will be asked to finish your cigarette (including e-cigarettes) outside if caught smoking in a venue.

Head over to our Get Involved section where you'll find all our various application forms and their opening dates.

The site needs to be vacated by midday on Monday 14th August. Please make sure you are all packed up and on your merry way home by then.

Wednesday is a set up day only with limited entertainment to be confirmed. On Thursday there will be a limited number of stages, bars and venues open later in the afternoon. The full show, with all stages and attractions will be open at 12 noon on Friday onwards. 

Boomtown is a living theatre that ignites imagination and inspires the emergence of a better world through respect, connection, creativity and celebration. 

To find out more about Boomtown please visit Who We Are.

Boomtown was started by a small team of young creative party goers who wanted to put on a party that was outside of the normal festival experience - an experience that brought to life underground music, art and theatre culture.

The festival is still run by the same people who started it - but we’ve come a long way in the last 13 years! To find out more about how the festival HQ has evolved and our own story then visit our who we are page.

Boomtown welcomes every age into its city but it is not specifically a ‘family festival’. Head to our Boomtown Families section for everything you and your family need to know about tickets, camping, entertainment and travel. 

Boomtown will be cash free for Chapter Two, how this will happen is yet to be confirmed and more information will follow in the coming months.

If you do not pay off your instalment ticket, your ticket will be cancelled and you will not be refunded the deposit or booking fee.

You may buy 8 tickets per transaction. 

Yes, if you choose to come with a teen ticket (13 - 17) you must be accompanied by a  parent or guardian aged 30+ at entry and throughout the duration of the event.

As stated by the age policy on our terms and conditions: Only persons aged 18 or over on their first day of attending Boomtown Festival may enter the festival using an Adult ticket. Any person under the age of 18 who has purchased an Adult ticket rather than a Teen ticket will be refused entry into the festival. Tickets are non-refundable.

We cannot guarantee entry for any tickets bought from third party services. We’re not affiliated with any of these platforms and you run the risk that ticket owners will change the names again, rendering your ticket useless. Please only purchase tickets from our ticket provider - https://kaboodle.co.uk/

Please note that if you get to the site and you have purchased a fake ticket, OR your ticket does not match your ID, you will not be allowed entry into Boomtown.

An Eco Bond is added at the point of purchase. This is your bond to the environment aimed to help reduce the amount of waste that is sent to landfill. The Eco Bond is fully refunded on-site in exchange for bringing one full bag of mixed dry waste and sorting it at the Eco Bond hub.

A Citizenship ticket allows you access to all the City and its districts and the 3 main public campsites from Thursday - Sunday.

All Green Transport Citizen tickets, and Citizenship tickets with Wednesday upgrade allow you access to all the public campsites to get set up early. The full city opens from Thursday onwards.

Booking fees pay for the administration, customer and IT support that goes into processing ticket orders and they also pay for the huge amount of infrastructure that is required to set up and operate the wristband exchange and gates on site.

Boomtown is best experienced for the full four or five days! We don’t sell day tickets but you are welcome to arrive at any point throughout the festival (within gate opening times).

Yes, if you live locally (in and around Winchester) and are interested in coming to Boomtown please email local_community@boomtownfair.co.uk and we will be able to help you.

Your name on your ticket must also match your ID. Acceptable ID can be either Passport, Driving Licence or ID card bearing the PASS hologram. You can get a Boomtown branded CitizenCard card (not to be confused with Citizenship festival entry tickets) by visiting their website here. CitizenCard's are currently reduced to half price to £7.50 for all Boomtown citizens.

You can change the name on your order by contacting Kaboodle customer services at boomtown@kaboodle.co.uk. You will have to pay a £20 admin fee for Kaboodle to complete this.

In some instances where it's just a wrong spelling of a name or adding a nickname instead of a legal name, Kaboodle doesn't charge for this, only when it's a completely new person taking the ticket.

We need to receive the info by Friday 4th August by 5pm. Do not panic if they have not had a response before then and please do not follow up with further emails. If we need more info we will ask for it.

If you miss a payment of one of your instalments you should contact Kaboodle imediatley by logging into your account or emailing them at boomtown@kaboodle.co.uk

If you fail to make the payments in accordance with Kaboodle’s terms and conditions of your payment plan then your ticket may be cancelled and you will not be eligible for a refund. This includes all added extras, accomodation and travel tickets.

There are some ticket types that are processed differently so you will not receive them through Kaboodle. If you have booked a coach, tickets will be sent out directly from National Express. If you have booked lockers, they will also be sent directly from the provider just before the festival.

Your Eco Bond is not part of your ticket so will not be sent to you, to claim your £20 Eco Bond refund, take a full bag of recycling to one of the Eco Bond Hubs on site, and your refund will be processed. 

We understand that many LGBTQIA+ Boomtown citizens may present differently to their picture on their ID and using their birth/dead name can be a triggering and upsetting process. Should you wish to have more privacy or support when visiting wristband exchange, please head to the Box Office or speak to members of the Safer Spaces team who will be able to assist you.

Wednesday is a setup day to allow you to get settled before Boomtown officially starts on Thursday. If you would like to come to Boomtown on the Wednesday set up day, you must purchase a Citizenship Ticket + Wednesday Upgrade: Valid from Wednesday-Sunday (Standard adult 18+). Wednesday entry is included in Green Transport Citizen tickets that are purchased with Wednesday travel and can be purchased as an add-on per person travelling by car. For more information head to our ticket info page here.

You'll have access to all the public campsites from Wednesday as well as several entertainment areas. There will be a reduced amount of entertainment provided on Wednesday. More information will be released in the coming months.

If you have a transport saver ticket this already has Wednesday entry, if you want to upgrade a standard entry ticket you will need to log into your account and select the 'Wednesday Upgrade' in the group 'Added Extras'

Yes, you can be dropped off on Wednesday but we would rather you take advantage of all the great options that are more environmentally friendly.

Yes, your five day Citizenship ticket will still be valid if your plans change and you choose to arrive on Thursday instead. Please note that if you have a ticket to arrive on Wednesday and wish to now arrive on Thursday, your Wednesday upgrade is non-refundable. 

Green Transport Citizen Tickets are festival entry tickets that must be purchased alongside a return coach or shuttle bus ticket. Festival tickets are offered at a reduced price to reward public transport travellers, but you must also buy a coach or shuttle ticket and travel to Boomtown by that transport in order to be validated to receive your wristband on arrival at the festival.

To take advantage of the reduced price festival ticket, simply add a Coach Ticket or Shuttle Ticket to your basket along with the Green Transport Citizen Ticket.

Yep! You can still add on coaches to standard festival entry tickets, find them on the ticket page.

Anyone can buy a shuttle bus ticket on the day for £10 single from Winchester Train station.

No, you must travel on the coach or shuttle in order for your Citizenship Ticket to be valid upon entry. You will not be permitted entry to the festival if you have booked a Green Transport Citizen ticket and do not travel on the coach or shuttle.

We offer discounted Green Transport Citizen Tickets to coach travellers to encourage public transport. We calculate the size of our car parks based on coach package customers coming by coach. If all of these people were to drive, we would run out of space and the traffic would be horrendous. Please don't do this.

Confirmation of booking will be emailed to the ticket buyer immediately after completing the booking. This is not your Travel Ticket, but confirmation of your booking. Your Travel Ticket will be emailed to the ticket buyer from our coach operator.

The above information applies whether you have booked a Coach Only ticket or a Green Transport Citizen Ticket with coach travel via the Boomtown/Kaboodle website (Festival Ticket + Coach Travel).

If you have booked a shuttle ticket you will receive an e-ticket alongside your entry ticket which is exchanged when you get on the shuttle bus at Winchester Station. This will be emailed to you with your entry tickets in June.

Campervan passes can be used for campervans, caravans and trailer tents. All members of your party will each need a valid Citizenship Entry ticket. The campervan field will be open from Wednesday onwards.

Once you have received your pass in the post, please display your parking sticker clearly on the inside of  your windscreen before you start your journey to the site. Make sure it’s not obstructed by the sunstrip and is outside the sweep of your windscreen wipers so it doesn’t obstruct your view of the road. The top or bottom left or right-hand corner of your windscreen or just behind your rear view mirror are usually the best places. Please also make sure the QR code on your sticker can be scanned easily by the car park team.

We can not allocate cars to a specific car park in advance. As you approach the festival we will ask you to follow the signs to Public Car Parks. This is because we direct the cars on to the best car park depending on the real time flow of traffic and the direction you are coming from.

The only exceptions are for customers who have booked a car parking pass linked to a specific area (such as The Meadow accessibility camping,  Family camping or Camp Skylark). You’ll receive all the information you need on driving routes with your car pass when it’s posted to you.

Anyone who doesn’t know their registration until the day (hire car etc) can bring a downloaded or printed copy of their car parking pass ticket with them and it can be verified by the car parking team on arrival.

This will be a slightly slower process as they will be diverted into the payment lanes in the same way anyone who hasn’t bought a ticket is. They just show the ticket as proof of purchase and it will be scanned and then their registration will be added to the system so if they need to leave and come back another day it will be marked as paid.

Campervans won’t use ANPR. They just need to print or download the campervan pass ticket and present it for scanning along with their entry tickets when they arrive at Campervan gate.

There are loads of ways to get to the festival! We recommend coming to the festival via public transport. Shuttle buses also run to and from the local train station in Winchester and taxis and car share schemes are available.

Yes, we do. But we are asking everyone who is thinking of being dropped off and / or picked up after the festival by a friend or family member to rethink this as a travel option... Being dropped off or picked up doubles the amount of journeys to and from site which increases carbon emissions and adds unnecessary traffic to the network, which slows down entry time for you and everyone else. The drop off point will be confirmed in the new year.

We run a regular shuttle from Winchester train station to the festival site. A timetable will be published in July via the Boomtown website. The shuttle service will be wheelchair accessible.

The shuttle, for those travelling by train, runs frequently from Winchester Train Station directly to the festival. The full timetable will be released in the Essential Guide by July. 

Yes! If you have booked your own private coach or minibus for you and your mates to come to the festival, you need to book a space to be dropped off at our coach park.

This applies to all vehicles of 18 seats or over. It costs £80 (+BF) and this covers both drop-off and collection. 

The driver of the vehicle must NOT be attending the festival. Vehicles with up to 18 seats with a driver attending the festival can buy a parking pass and park in the public car park.  

Drop off is limited to only 4 slots at a time. We advise pre-booking to get a collection time that suits you. If you arrive without booking a slot as our team will assign you a collection slot based on our remaining availability.

You can view more details and how to book your slots on our Travel page

If you are planning to drive yourself to Boomtown remember to book a car parking pass for your vehicle - these are much cheaper when booked in advance! We would strongly recommend car sharing if you’re coming by car - It’s not only less environmentally impactful but also makes the journey cheaper…

Remember, if you do not pre-select your coach travel options before the end of Jan you will be automatically assigned a slot.

Yes, we have a dedicated accessibility campsite called The Meadow, for more info  on camping and the additional facilities available please visit  our Accessibility Info page.

Yes. We have one main campervan field with a family section, as well as The Meadow accessible campervan field available. These require a campervan pass which you can purchase on the website or via your Kaboodle account.

Please remember that each person staying in the vehicle must have a valid Festival Entry ticket too. More information about pitch size and regulations can be found in our T&Cs.

Yes, We have a huge range of pre-bookable campsites to suit all budgets, from basic tents to luxurious canvas homes with a huge range of added extras and facilities to suit all budgets. To find out more info on both of them please see our pre-pitched info over on our 'Camping' section here.

Yes, We are still offering phone charging facilities. You can find out more about home comforts here.

Hot showers are available in Camp Orchid. To make use of these you will need a Camp Orchid wristband. They will also be available in our pre-pitched Camp Skylark.

Yes, You will still be allowed to bring alcohol into the arena from the campsite areas.

Yes. All Citizenship Tickets include access to all general campsites which all have a Campsite Village at their hearts.

There are three main campsites across the festival site each with their own Campsite Village. These can be found in the West, East and North sides of the festival.  

The three general campsites will have a dedicated area called the Campsite Village. This is the communal hub of the campsite where you will find entertainment, traders and facilities.

Each campsite has its own Campsite Village, which is a space to chill out, a selection of workshops available and the chance to listen to speakers. There will be bars, traders, composting toilets. 

Each Campsite Village has a 24 hour campsite hub with a campsite manager who is always on hand to help and advise with any concerns, questions or issues the public may have.  Stewards and our SIA trained Security staff are also available at all times. They are easily identifiable by their high vis tabards. There are also roaming welfare teams who patrol the campsites to offer support if anyone needs a hand, compost toilets and access to water points.

There will not be a designated quiet campsite, however, the areas further from the entertainment venues tend to be less densely populated and we would recommend campers seeking a little more tranquillity to pitch up there.

There is  a dedicated solo camp in Downtown in easy walking distance from the public transport gate. A facebook group is run by one of our citizens to join up intrepid explorers coming on their own, who all camp together in one community! Email info@boomtownfair.co.uk if you’d like to know more.

We define a live-in vehicle as something with either a fixed bed or fixed washing and cooking facilities.

The gates opens on Wednesday 9th August for those with Wednesday upgrades. Everyone else will be able to arrive from Thursday onwards.

The car parks will open at 10am each day and close at 9pm sharp, so make sure you have plenty of time to arrive before they close.

Yes, of course. You can leave at any time but you will not be able to get back in after 9.30pm until the following morning at 10am, even if you already have your wristband.

Boomtown is a big festival. A big, outdoor festival in a hilly valley. Even though we make it feel like a proper living, breathing city filled with fantasy worlds, it is still a field, and you are attending a four day camping festival. Please pack accordingly, bring all necessary provision (within reason and bearing in mind the entry conditions and restricted items).

Only bring what you can afford to lose and what you can carry from the gates to your campsite. Work out what you're sleeping in and what you will need to keep warm and dry and only bring what you think you will need for the weekend. And please, please, please only bring things that you are going to take home with you.

We have loads of food stalls and bars throughout the festival so there is no need to rely on pot noodles and cold beans for the whole weekend!

You may bring up to 16 x 440ml cans of lager/cider/beer OR 17 x 250ml cans of premix spirit drinks OR a 3-litre box of wine OR 7 litres of cider/lager/beer in plastic bottles or cans.

Due to licence conditions no glass is allowed on site and will be confiscated at point of entry. Unopened plastic bottles are allowed, but if the seal is broken these will also be confiscated at the gates as we cannot allow unidentifiable substances onto the festival site. No re-entry with alcohol also applies.

Of course! As long as you can store it safely, then feel free to bring your own food.

Open fires, BBQs and candle flares are strictly forbidden for safety reasons.

As pretty as twinkling tea-lights can be, they are very dangerous in a camping situation with all those flammable tents around. A torch or electric lantern is much better and far brighter.

No. Small personal speakers are allowed but we would ask you to be considerate of your fellow campers with them. The campsites are patrolled for rogue systems, which will be confiscated and you run the risk of being ejected from the site, which we really don't want to happen!

Sorry, it is against our licence terms to have animals on site. Should you arrive with your dog/cat/goat/hamster etc... you will be refused entry to the site, so please leave your furry friends at home.

Only assistance dogs are allowed.

Please do not bring fireworks, glass containers, potential weapons, portable laser equipment including laser pens or any illegal or offensive items. This is a family friendly event and antisocial or illegal behaviour will not be tolerated and may result in you being ejected from the site, or worse, arrested.

The Medical and Welfare tents provide experienced, caring and confidential help for all kinds of medical, practical and personal problems.

To bring your medication with you just bring a copy of your prescription, put all the medication together in its original packaging in a clear plastic bag with your name (that matches your ID and the name on your ticket) and contact number clearly marked on it.  

Please make sure you only bring enough for the five day period and make sure you keep it safe or with you at all times.

Medication can be stored at The Meadow accessibility campsite - if you need this option please contact the access team.

Medical waste can be disposed of at the Medical Centre. For extra information, please email email access@boomtownfair.co.uk and they will be able to help you with any specific query you may have.

In order for the security staff at the gates to determine whether a bottle of oil is CBD, and therefore legal, we require for the bottle to be sealed (and never to have been previously opened), and a commercially labelled product that clearly displays the CBD and THC content information. 

At the entry gates, if the product has been previously opened, fails to display the content information, or is suspected by the search staff of being any substance other than CBD, security staff may treat it as a contraband item, and confiscate it. Within the festival site, security will be looking at the content information to determine legality.

Boomtown’s position on CBD reflects the current national approach, however, it is important to note that Government departments are currently reviewing these products, and if there is any change in the regulations, Boomtown's position will by necessity change accordingly. Any such changes will be communicated via our T&Cs and on our website, so if you plan to bring CBD to the festival, you are advised to check our website prior to the event for any updates.

As with all festivals, towns and cities across the country, UK law applies. Do not bring drugs into the city, they will be confiscated and you run the risk of being prosecuted.

 Please see our drugs safety page here for full details and advice.

To find out the full Boomtown policy on drugs please visit our Drugs and Safety section here.