Terms and Conditions
Avalon Bars & Events Ltd
Glastonbury Volunteers Agreement Terms and Conditions 2025
Avalon Bars & Events Ltd operate a number of public bars at Glastonbury Festival and recruit volunteers to serve drinks to the public in these bars. Avalon Bars & Events has a number of charities that it supports, and Avalon Bars & Events will make donations to these supported charities as a thank you to volunteers donating their time.
Please read the following Agreement thoroughly. By accepting a place to volunteer, you are confirming that you have read and understood the Agreement and that you agree to abide by the points and policies within.
This Agreement is intended to set out Avalon Bars’ reasonable expectations and standards of conduct for volunteers. It is not intended to create any contractual relationship. It follows that you are free, at any time, to choose to cease volunteering and not to complete the shifts that have been allocated to you. However, if you choose to cease volunteering, you will be required immediately to surrender both your Avalon Bars and your Glastonbury Festival wristbands and vacate the Avalon Bars secure campsite. You will have no further right to remain at the festival. You will need to make your own way home and you will not be entitled to the return of your deposit.
Throughout this Agreement, “you”/”your” refers to the volunteer; “we” refers to Avalon Bars & Events
Eligibility to Volunteer
All volunteers must be aged 18 years or over on 25th June 2025
You must have the right to Volunteer in the UK. It is the volunteer’s responsibility to check that you do have the right to volunteer. If you are not a UK national or do not have indefinite leave to remain this can be found within your visa terms. Avalon Bars cannot support visa applications from volunteers.
You will need to be available from Tuesday 24th June to Monday 30th June 2025 inclusive.
You will need to bring a physical copy of valid photo ID (either passport or driving licence) with you when you come to the festival.
Volunteers must adhere to UK Licensing laws regarding the sale of alcohol and it is imperative that volunteers fully understand their legal obligations when selling alcohol to members of the public. Therefore, we are only able to accept volunteers who are fluent in spoken and written English.
While volunteers are entitled to breaks during shifts, the shifts will require you to be on your feet and moving around for many hours at a time. In addition to this, some bars can be a considerable walking distance from the campsite. If you have medical conditions that will make walking long distances and being on your feet difficult, please take this into serious consideration when deciding whether to volunteer.
Volunteers who have volunteered in previous years, but who did not complete all their shifts satisfactorily or otherwise fail to meet the expectations set out in this Agreement will not be eligible to volunteer this year or in any subsequent years.
Deposits & Cancellations
Volunteers will need to pay a refundable deposit of £360 to Avalon Bars upon your acceptance of your application. The deposit scheme is designed to help us ensure that we recruit volunteers who intend to continue volunteering until the end of the festival and complete all of their allocated shifts. This deposit does not buy you a festival wristband.
Our expectation is that you will focus on your volunteering activities during your allocated shifts but at all other times you are free to enjoy the festival.
If you sign up to volunteer and then find you cannot attend, you must cancel your place in writing by emailing volunteers@avalonevents.co.uk no later than Thursday 27 March 2025. Your deposit will then be returned to you by Avalon Bars and Events, minus a deduction of £25 administration fee. If you cancel your volunteering place within 14 days of applying for a place via our portal your full deposit will be refunded.
We will be unable to return deposits for places cancelled after Thursday 27 March 2025 except in extenuating circumstances, which will be looked at on a case by case basis. You may be asked to provide supporting evidence of your reason for cancellation.
In cases where we do, at our discretion, choose to return a deposit after the cancellation deadline due to extenuating circumstances, an administration fee of £25 will be deducted.
After the festival, deposits will be returned to volunteers following successful completion of all shifts and compliance with all this Agreement. Partial completion of shifts will not result in partial return of deposit. Every effort will be made to return deposits within 60 days.
Volunteers who do not satisfactorily complete all of their allocated shifts (and/or do not abide by expected standards of conduct and behaviour as set out in this Guidance and in the Avalon Bars pre-event training), will forfeit their entitlement to remain within the Glastonbury Festival and the Avalon Bars secure campsite. They will be required to surrender their Glastonbury Festival and Avalon Bars wristbands; they will also forfeit their deposit and will need to make their own travel arrangements home.
Training
All volunteers are required to complete the training session to ensure that they are up to date with required Health & Safety and Licencing stipulations, as well as any information that may have changed since any previous training they may have attended. This training is mandatory and volunteers who do not complete will not be able to attend the festival
Training sessions have previously been held online and held in May. Dates for 2025 have yet to be confirmed but you should expect it to be around this time again.
You must make sure that you are available and able to attend one of the training sessions. Participation as a volunteer for Avalon Bars at Glastonbury is dependent on completion of the training.
Shifts
Volunteers agree to volunteer their time for 24 hours over the course of the festival (Wednesday 25 – Sunday 29 June 2025). Shifts patterns will be 3 days x 8 hours
Please note bars are busiest on Friday, Saturday and Sunday – you are likely to be volunteering on at least two of these days.
You will be given your shifts when you arrive on site. These are pre-allocated and you will have no choice over the shifts that you are given
You cannot swap shifts with other volunteers
In order to be able to return deposits, volunteers are required to sign in with their bar manager at the beginning of every shift – it is your responsibility to make sure you do this, to avoid any later disputes over your attendance and the return of your deposit.
If you are unable to complete your shift due to unforeseen circumstances such as illness, you must let us know first at the Staffing office in the Avalon Bars campsite. You must contact Staffing before the start of your shift.
If you are volunteering as a group of friends, Avalon Bars will attempt to put you on the same shift team at your request. However, we cannot accommodate requests for more than 6 friends to volunteer together. Please make sure that if you have requested to volunteer with your friend, that they have also requested to volunteer with you – we need to be able to match requests up.
All volunteers are entitled to a break during their shift. Breaks will be allocated or agreed with you by your Bar Manager. You must ensure you return from your break in time for the remainder of your shift. Returning late means that fellow volunteers are prevented from taking their break.
You are required to attend a bar briefing onsite on Wednesday morning in the Avalon Campsite, after which you will be taken to your bar for on –site briefings from your bar management team.
Illness
If you are too ill to volunteer on a shift, you should ensure you contact the Staffing office in the Avalon Bars campsite as soon as possible and before the start of your shift. You will be given contact numbers for all key personnel on site so that you can get in touch – in some circumstances we may be able to swap your shift to another day. Supporting evidence such as a doctor’s note (which can be obtained from the Festival Medical Centre in Big Ground) may need to be produced in order to ensure the return of your deposit. If you miss a shift and you have not followed the procedure above then this will lead to your deposit being forfeit.
Expected Behaviour and Conduct
Your priority at the festival is to prepare and serve drinks, or otherwise carry out tasks pertaining to the overall function of the bar at Avalon’s bars under the direction of the bar manager/s. You are expected to act in an appropriately responsible manner during shifts.
Any behaviour during shifts which may bring Avalon Bars into disrepute (including, but not limited to: being drunk; under the influence of drugs while on duty; treating customers or others in a disrespectful, abusive or unprofessional manner; any incidence of theft of any kind) is totally unacceptable and will result in the volunteer being removed from the bar. Avalon Bars reserve the right to remove both Avalon Bars and Glastonbury Festival wristbands and escort the volunteer from the festival site, from which they will have to make their own way home.
Volunteers will be provided with two t-shirts which should be worn while volunteering on your shifts. Volunteers should be aware that whilst wearing these t-shirts, either on OR off shift, they are representing Avalon Bars and must behave in an appropriately responsible manner. Do not cut or modify these t-shirts in any way.
Volunteers are NOT permitted to drink alcohol, be under the influence of alcohol, or take or be under the influence of drugs whilst on duty.
Volunteers must not give away free drinks to anyone under any circumstances. Doing so is considered to be theft and will result in the volunteer’s removal from the bar, and possible removal of Avalon Bars and Glastonbury wristbands and expulsion from the festival site. Your deposit will also be forfeit.
Drugs
Do not bring drugs with you to the festival.
UK laws are just as applicable at Glastonbury Festival as anywhere else in the country. You are liable to be searched at the entrances to the festival – as the Avalon Bars campsite is just outside of the festival perimeter it is highly likely you may be searched as you go into the main festival site. Police are on site to deal with offenders.
Drugs are absolutely not allowed in the Avalon Bars campsite. This also includes the use of nitrous oxide canisters and any so-called ‘legal highs’. If you are found to be using or in the possession of such substances in the Avalon Bars campsite, Avalon Bars reserve the right to stand down from shift and/or remove from site any volunteer who they believe to be in breach of this Agreement. Our decision in these circumstances will be final and your deposit will be forfeit.
Travel
Avalon Bars coaches will be departing to Glastonbury during the day on Tuesday 24th June 2025 from Bristol to the festival site.
Coaches will only be departing from Bristol to the festival site and volunteers must make their own way to and from the coach pick up / drop off point. Avalon cannot reimburse volunteers for travelling costs to the coach location.
Following the successful egress in 2024, coaches from the festival site to Bristol will again be departing from Bronze Gate to Bristol
In previous years a small number of car parking passes were made available by the festival. We currently do not know whether we will again be granted these passes. Further information will be given nearer the time to successful volunteers, but you should be prepared to use the Avalon provided coaches in the first instance.
If car park passes have been made available to us by the festival, volunteers arriving by car should arrive at the compound no later than 6pm. Please bear in mind it can be a long walk from the car park to the Avalon compound, so you should factor this in to your journey time to ensure you are at the compound before 6pm.
The Avalon Bars coaches will be booked to travel back from the festival site to Bristol on Monday 30th June 2025.
Please be aware that it can take a very long time to get off site due to the public exiting the campsites and the heavy traffic around the festival site and surrounding area. Traffic conditions are out of our control and we cannot guarantee you will be able to leave site or arrive at the coach drop off point for a specific time. Please bear this in mind when booking onward travel.
Avalon Bars Compound and Campsite
You must camp in the Avalon Bars staff campsite. Campervans or live-in vehicles are not permitted in the Avalon Bars campsite and cannot be accommodated.
You must bring your own camping equipment. Avalon Bars cannot provide tents, sleeping bags or any camping equipment.
There is a finite amount of space in the campsite. Do not bring tents which are significantly larger than you need. Taking up too much space results in the campsite being cramped and more uncomfortable for everyone.
Tents must be pitched in a sensible manner to maximise the amount of space in the campsite. If it is found that you have pitched your tent in such a manner as to take up more space than you need, your tent may be moved.
The Avalon Bars staff campsite has hot showers, subsidised off-sales and a catering tent which can only be accessed with an Avalon Bars wristband.
Each volunteer will receive 2 meal vouchers per 8-hour shift (or equivalent split shifts) on arrival, to cover the days that they are volunteering. These can be exchanged for meals in the catering tent in the Avalon Bars staff campsite – lost vouchers will not be replaced so keep your vouchers safe.
The campsite is your home for the week of the festival and is a working campsite. We ask that you treat the campsite with respect and pick up after yourselves. Please be mindful of noise levels when coming back into camp as other volunteers and staff will be sleeping ahead of their shifts.
Personal Possessions and Lost Property
Avalon Bars and Events cannot provide any secure facilities for valuables you bring to site and cannot safeguard your personal and/or valuable possessions. Glastonbury Festival provide secure Property Lockups around the festival site; this facility is not run by, affiliated with or endorsed by Avalon Bars in any way. More information can be found on the official Glastonbury website.
Avalon Bars accepts no responsibility for any personal belongings lost or stolen at any time while on site.
Any lost property found inside the non-public part of bars or inside the Avalon Bars Campsite, will be handed into Lost Property in the Staffing Area in the Avalon Bars campsite. This will be held until Wednesday 2 July 2025 in the staffing office after which time all unclaimed items will be given to Glastonbury Lost Property. Avalon Bars do not accept any responsibility for the condition, damage, loss or subsequent problems that can be associated with providing this Lost Property service. We operate this service purely on a no blame basis as to any goods we happen to be given, accept or receive and hold onto with the aim trying to re-unite with their owner.
Failing to comply with this Agreement
In the event that any volunteer is unable to comply with this Agreement, or otherwise fails to meet the expectations set out in these Agreement and the Avalon Bars pre-event training. Avalon Bars reserve the right to remove both Avalon Bars and Glastonbury Festival wristbands, and/or withdraw coach travel home. Your deposit will also be forfeit and you will ineligible to volunteer with us in subsequent years.
Volunteers who choose not to complete all shifts will not be allowed to volunteer in subsequent years.
Avalon Bars reserve the right to stand down from shift and/or remove from site any volunteer who they believe have failed to meet reasonable expectations set out in this Agreement. Our decision in these circumstances will be final.
Confidentiality
During the course of your volunteer activities, you may have access to confidential information relating to Avalon Bars and Glastonbury festival. We expect you not to use or disclose this information to any other person during or after the event.
Your Personal Information
In order to volunteer with Avalon Bars you will be required to register with us on our secure portal and submit personal information. Please read our privacy policy - Privacy Policy - Bar Live Events.
Avalon Bars & Events may be required to submit your personal information to Glastonbury Festivals for the purposes of accreditation. Information is only ever submitted via a secure procedure.
Photographs may be taken of the bar during operating hours for promotional, training, or marketing purposes. If you do not wish to be in any photographs that may be taken, please let us know.
