Let’s rewind to 1970, the very first Glastonbury. The ticket cost just £1. Yes, one English pound—the price of a pint and a packet of crisps back then. And for that quid, you got a free milk churn full of fresh water and a field full of cows. That’s it.
You also got to see headliners like T. Rex, but let’s be real: mostly you got to stand in a muddy field with 1,500 other hippies. It was basically a camping trip your dad organized, but with more tie-dye and fewer sausages.
By 1971, the price jumped to a staggering £2.50. Inflation was already creeping in, like the inevitable drizzle. But hey, at least you could still afford to buy a second-hand guitar with your change.
The Ticket That Roared (and Got Expensive)
Fast forward to 1990, and you needed a whole £38 to get in. That’s about £85 in today’s money, and it included the festival’s first major security fence. Why? Because 100,000 gatecrashers had turned up in 1989, and organizers decided they’d rather charge than host a free-for-all riot.
By 2000, the ticket was £87. That’s when you started seeing people sell their kidneys on eBay just to afford a weekend of tofu and tent fires. The headliners? David Bowie and the Pet Shop Boys. Worth every penny, I promise.
Then came 2009: £175. Suddenly, your Glastonbury ticket cost more than a flight to Ibiza. But you weren’t going for a beach—you were going for the privilege of peeing in a bucket and sleeping on a hill. That’s commitment.
The soaring cost of Glastonbury: From the £1 entry fee in 1970, to next
