Outside / Inside Set Up & Seating

Concerts are held outdoors on the grass, or inside the hall. The normal inside limit is 150, outside > 350 (45 and 175 respectively for COVID).

  • Our overall objective is to balance the interests of everyone – audience and artists to maintain an enjoyable, manageable and safe environment

Book Early To Avoid Disappointment:

  • We are lucky to get high calibre artists in our own backyard
  • We’d hate for you to turn up and not be able to get in, especially as UL is a reasonable drive for most people
  • If you see an act that you like, book early so you know you’ll have a seat

Outside Arrangements

  • The hall has a large grassy area with unallocated seating – choose your spot
  • BYO chairs/picnic rug etc

Inside Hall Arrangements:

  • Hall capacity would be reached if we went to all theatre-style seating
  • In trying to balance the situation in the interests of everyone, we’re mindful that we have a responsibility to the artists to get as many people in as we reasonably can, because they’re paid on a percentage of the door and it’s their livelihood
  • As we grow audiences and can pay the artists more, then we can get better quality acts, so that’s a virtuous circle we’re keen to keep going

Add into the mix that the hall definitely has a better atmosphere when it’s close to capacity – the ‘buzz’ is palpable.

Tables:

  • Unusually for a venue of its type, UL aims to provide tables for concerts
  • The tables are enjoyed by most people and are a strong tradition in the hall
  • The downside is that they take more room than theatre-style seating
  • Tables are shared, so unless your group is big enough to fill the whole table, you’ll be sitting with other people. Bonus: You’ll have a chance to make new friends!
  • If the audience gets large for a particular event, then we need to re-balance the room to have fewer tables and more theatre-style seating

Reserving Tables:

Unfortunately not everyone can get a seat at a table, especially on big nights.

  • If you want to sit at a table, your best option is to organise a group of 8 or more, then book and pay early. Tables are allocated to groups first
  • The next best option is to book early and make a note on your booking that you’d like a seat at a table. We’ll do our best to accommodate you, but we can’t guarantee a table seat
  • If you’re not in a group and want to sit at a table, the earlier you arrive the more likely you are to find free seats at a shared table

Theatre-style Seating Spacing:

  • People from the music committee go to a lot of different festivals and venues and we think our theatre-style seating is more widely spaced than most other places we’ve been to, but we have heard your comments!

Dance Space

  • We encourage people to dance (when permitted) and usually adopt the front right and side as a dance area
  • The area by the sliding door out to the verandah and toilets also provides a space for standing and dancing, even if it’s a full house

In any case, feel free to find space anywhere you feel comfortable to dance.

  • If there’s a group that want to dance you can take the front right theatre-style seating, then stack the chairs away to the side when the time is right
  • If there are people already sitting front right, explain to them that you plan to dance and ask if they could help by sitting somewhere else