Ginfestival Reviews 35

I have done a number of gin festivals and this is by far the worst
Yes you get a bag and glass and straw but I feel a the main aim is for you to buy drinks not sample gins and meet vendors
12 stalls offering samples, one place to obtain food and 4 bars selling drinks
I will not be doing this one again

I had a nice time as went with close family but just working out what I spent …. For four G&Ts it was £44 !? Ok you get a glass and a reusable bag and straw ….
Yes you sample from the vendors but only a tiny taste neat , so won’t be going again , was a bit cheaper last time

Badly organised, tables manned by one person in many cases, and max 2 on a few, there was a sea of people of at least 4 lines thick infront of each table, plus people queuing out of the door into the hallway to enter the room and try a shot of gin to taste, no organisation whatsoever.
The concert was yet again poorly organised and not enough staff to even order a drink.
Staff were rude and unprofessional, very childish, big egos and appeared to be embarrassed of who they worked for when asked. Extremely badly run, I have never been to such an event, a waste of money.
I only gave one star , as I couldn't add the review without choosing one!!! rubbish event. No doubt I won't get an email to apologise.

Losely Park 12 noon to 9pm. £39.50 vip seat (with beautiful flower arrangement on tables)… a cotton bag, tin of water, packet of crisps, 2 gins (at specific bar) a seat in vip area with waiter service (no service until 4.30 & barely any staff). We were lucky as it was gorgeous weather so it was a lovely afternoon with friends outside in the sun. The selection of food was good and atmosphere fun. Music generally good.

Downsides
There were gin samples but everything had to be tried neat first, I think I lost my pallet for gin. All samples (except for 1) we’re served in plastic, we tried reusing ours. Any drinks bought were also served in plastic cups. The plastic wastage was saddening. Previous gin experience we were given a ginfest glass that we reused every tine we bought drinks and also a nice little keep sake, also provided with a menu of different gins and flavours from around the World and then chose off of that menu, buting a whole g&t each time but much more choice, it was better (Guildford Cathedral approx year 2014-18)

Utter utter dissapointment from start too "couldn't end quick enough"!
Entertainment was one lady singing inside on the hottest day of the year and it was Frankly painful !.
The "Food" on offer was just the cafe bar with a choice of 2 boxed salads or CAKE ?! ... NEVER have I been sipping a gin to stop and think " oooh a slice of chocolate cake would go lovely with this " ?!!!
6 tasting tents outside whilst everything else was inside - inside was dark hot , no seating, half a dozen small tables too stand at ( most people were sat on the stairs or the floor).
HUGE empty space outside with absolutely no cover or Entertainment.. it was just bizarre ... even the poor ticket staff didn't have any shade too escape too .... I think "Festival" is a bit far fetched and it should be "Gin taster" as the title... would I bother again .. absolutely not
.... We even left our "free" Fever tree Gin glass (that you had to use all day for your drinks) .. why would I take that home with me .. it would look like you had pinched it from a pub ?!.
The other free gifts were a pen that didn't work a metal straw and plain cotton bag .. the straw and bag we kept ... HIGHLIGHT of the day was the hilarity of us sitting on a giant deckchair... says it all I think.

This could have been a good event but the music was 2nd rate and the drinks very expensive..thank god for the beer fly stand ...to think how much we paid well in advance to get in.
We will not be going next time .

This is a complete FRAUD! Do not pay these people, read Facebook reviews and pages. All events are cancelled last minute for the same excuse “they couldnt secure a venue”. NO refunds given and NO response to emails, contact forms, website enquires or Facebook messages. ALL events the same. They take your money and you get nothing. They keep changing the event name so get away with it.

Attended gin and fizz festival in York. What a rip off. £20 for entry and we got a cheap labelled glass and a choice of gin shots. Lower floor there were two stands providing samples. Upper floor there were 3 gin bars offering up to 12 gins for which we had to buy tokens for £20 which got us 4 gins. Of the first gins we tried, 1 was ok , 2 were mediocre and one was undrinkable. There were no local gins such as York Gin or Harrogate gin.

No tasting notes, just a list of gins.
£100 wasted.

Why is nobody replying to my emails or Instagram messages?! The event is this weekend and I need help!

Terrible experience - Don't bother.

Hardly any Gin sellers there, large open, empty room with a few empty tables. You HAVE to buy a drinks card at £20 each for 4 drinks; you can't just buy 1 or 2 drinks for example. We got a cheap B&M shot of gin on the way in which was AWFUL.
Terrible atmosphere, crap music, no food.
Biggest waste of money ever - never again!
How they can sell tickets to this rubbish is beyond me. You're better saving your money and going to a bar for a drink or two!

took an hour to get in the venue. no food. understaffed so very slow service. if you're still tempted don't buy too many drinks in advance.

This event could have been amazing as great selection of gins at a great venue . It however felt more like an exhibition at the NEC . NO CHAIRS just a few scattered bar tables. People sitti ng on the floor and lining up against the stage so they had somewhere to put there drinks /bags . Food selection was burnt cheese toasties and small pots of nuts/crisps. Whoever organised this event missed a huge opportunity to create a fantastic ambience and orobably make loads more money with some nice food, tables /chairs and better entertainment than a solo young lady singing . Really disappointing !

I had to miss out on the December festival in London, had four tickets for friends and I and even though we all looked forward to attending it we got cought on the London Bridge area after the terror attack and unfortunately couldn't not make it to the festival in good time due to travel issues and the sheer worry on what else could happen that night in Central London. The Gin to my Tonic website states that if one has missed the festival can use their ticket in the future and be allowed entry to another festival. Not once, but twice I emailed their customer service in order to enquire and confirm if it was possible to do this, but no one has bothered to get back to me. I do though get constant non stop promotion emails from them, so I know they still exist as a company. Saying that, judging from what bad reviews I have read about them and my experience of their customer service, I don't foresee them having a long future as a business!!

I bought tickets for the Gin festival in Lincoln Sept 14th 2019 as birthday presents for my sister and niece. A week before I recieved an email saying the event had been cancelled . The email said not to contact them and promised a refund within 14 days! I am still waiting ! I have sent two emails and have had no reply. I cannot find a telephone no fod the organisers either. We are all disappointed frustrated and angry.I have had to by alternative presents and at present I am £38 out of pocket at the moment !!

£22.50 FOR a VIP ticket, so you get entry, a glass , an awful T shirt & a cheap mug as long as you ask or you will not even get that!! You can taste 9 gins ( small measures) & have to que to purchase drinks by tokens. Very few seats , no food to purchase other than crisps & olives. Loud music & squashed in a room with no air con. Staff really rude & can't be bothered. No toilet paper or soap in toilets. Over all a waste of money & so dissapoining, don't bother!!

Awful - left out in the rain for their “speech” about buying tokens, not enough seats/tables so most people left sitting on the floor, no takeaways available (although advertised), bottles to “buy” sold out within an hour!

Booked our tickets really early so by the actual day we was really looking forward to the Gin Festival at Maidstone. We WONT be going again. For a few very good reasons:
1) Weather was dreadful but the staff refused to let anyone inside before 12 o’clock to get out of the rain.
2) Security staff were exceptionally rude and unaproachable. The very first security guy as we entered actually raised his voice at the poor man infront of me. He accused him of pushing forward which just was NOT true and when questioned by the man, the security guy snapped that if he continued pushing he wouldn’t be coming in at all. I must emphasis, the man was NOT pushing.
3) Then once we actually made it as far as the venue room, absolutely dripping from the rain we had all been left waiting in, we found there was plenty of space that we could of been easily able to wait in the warm and dry.
4) Everyone was then informed that any unused tokens would not be refundable.
5) After choosing our drinks and queing patently, a member of our group wasn’t allowed to take the remaining mixer as in a glass bottle. Understandable if deamed as dangerous. But everyone was given a gin glass on entry. So are they not an equal risk. Very odd.
6) Security staff stood inside the venue in a group chatting for long periods of time. Then at the end a security lady very rudely snapped that we should move outside, even though we was still finishing our drinks. It was only just 4 o’clock.
7) OVER ALL this years gin festival was a big disappointment. No atmosphere, very expensive, poor food choice although tasty it was extortionate prices and very limited range of merchandise available to purchase.
We was lucky because part of a large family group so made our own fun. The total lack of atmosphere and the very poor manners of security staff means we would NOT recommend the gin festival to other people in future. Bar staff and the variety of different gins were the only 2 positives of our experience today.

Very disappointing. Paid £16 per person for a ticket, for this as far as I can tell we got entry and a glass. There were 4 bars, a fairly average pub band going covers all afternoon, very limited seating, with around half the people sat on the floor and very limited choice of food, which although looked great, if you didn't want curry or brownies then there wasn't anything else. 2 trade stands with 2 gin companies, was expecting more than that. 1 very short talk about a distiller and a cocktail demo. Gin was lovely but was expecting more. Ver very poor for the amount it cost. Reduce the price of the ticket, provide more seating, more food choices, invite more distillers and have more free samples etc and it might be worth it.

Got given the tickets as a birthday present as I love gin. We also own a pub, so thought it would be a good way to try new gins.
It wasn't could not sample any except from trade stalls. Which there were only 2 of!
So had to purchase tokens to try gins.
Queued for each gin you brought for 10 mins.
Music was 1 band playing intermittently.
No where near enough tables or chairs.
So unless you want to sit on the floor. Then you stand.
A complete waste of time.

We went to the Maidstone Gin Fest
This absolutely needs to be in the summer, outside with more food stalls and more music. 1 band for 1 hour??? Not what was advertised when we purchased our tickets.