Watershed is an independent, not-for-profit organisation, a registered charity and a Social Enterprise Mark holder. It will come as no surprise that, like many places across the UK, we have been having a long hard look at how we can continue to operate effectively during this incredibly challenging economic time. As part of this work, we have been looking at our ticket prices, which have not changed since before the pandemic, and the associated charges involved with this service.  

Our last ticket price increases were in February 2020 and since that time we have kept to our current pricing – this was especially important to us when we first came out of lockdown and re-opened the building and began to rebuild our cultural offer and our organisation.

However, increasing utilities costs, the rises in the cost of living and the continued impact of the pandemic have now made it necessary to make a few adjustments to our ticket pricing and to introduce a booking fee.  

The following changes will take place from Friday 7 April 2023 

• Introduction of a 12% booking fee per ticket for online and telephone bookings (capped at a maximum of £5.00 when booking multiple tickets)
• Introduction of higher pricing for some special events throughout the year. 
• Raising the minimum age for our senior ticket concessions, in line with the state pension age of 66.  

More details on each of these changes can be found below.  

The actual ticket prices will remain the same as they are currently. 

Part of our values and mission is to make our cultural cinema programme accessible to as many people as possible and continue to pay our staff a real living wage. Whilst it is essential that we now make some changes to help us mitigate rising costs, we have tried to make these as fair as possible, with a variable booking fee depending on the ticket price. We are proud to be a cultural cinema that offers a £5.00 ticket price for people under 24 years old at any time of day and these can still be purchased for £5.00 at the Box Office.

We have capped the maximum booking fee at £5.00 when booking multiple tickets, so as not to make it too large for families or groups. Outside of our main programme, we will continue to work with community partners and organisations to provide wider access to cultural cinema.  

Introduction of a Booking Fee

From Friday 7 April 2023, we will be charging a 12% booking fee per ticket when you book online or by phone.

A booking fee is charged by the majority of UK venues. It covers some of the staffing, credit card and technology costs required to process your ticket purchase. At Watershed, we chose to cover the booking fee for our audiences, and did so for as long as we could - but the rising costs we are now facing means that we unfortunately can't afford to cover it anymore.

We are doing this as a percentage of the ticket price rather than as a set fee, so that those buying concession tickets continue to pay a relative fee to the amount they are spending.

The booking fee will only apply when booking online and over the phone. There will be no booking fee if you purchase tickets in person at Box Office and we have capped the booking fee at £5.00 maximum when booking multiple tickets. 

Introduction of higher prices for some special events

For some of our unique or one-off events, which take more time and resources to organise and present, we reserve the right to increase these prices (including concessions) to ensure we can continue to feature such events as part of our public programme.

Senior ticket concessions

We will be raising our minimum age for senior concession tickets (for those who are retired) to align with the state pension age which is 66.

By introducing these measures, our aim is to be able to continue to deliver our wide-ranging cultural programme for our valued audiences in these challenging times.

If you would like to help us further, please do consider investing in our future by donating to Watershed.   

Your understanding and support is much appreciated and if you have any questions or comments you can email us and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Thank you.

Cinema prices and fees from 7 April 2023

Unless otherwise stated the cost of cinema tickets is as follows:

• Screenings after 16:00
  £11.00 full (plus 12% booking fee*) / £8.50 concessions (plus 12% booking fee*).
• Screenings before 16:00
  £8.50 full (plus 12% booking fee*) / £5.00 concessions (plus 12% booking fee*).
• Aged 24 or under
  Any screening, any time for £5.00 (plus 12% booking fee*).
• Refugees and asylum seekers
  Any screening, any time for £5.00 (plus 12% booking fee*).

* Booking fee applies to online and phone booking only.

We have capped our booking fee at £5.00 maximum charge per transaction. 

Complimentary tickets are available for Personal Assistants accompanying customers who are Deaf / Disabled.

Concessions apply to Full Time Students, Job Seekers Allowance and Employment Support Allowance, 66+ who have retired, Equity and BECTU members and disabled people.

Where applicable please produce proof of eligibility when collecting a ticket.

If you have any further questions please do get in touch and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Thank you again for your support.

With love from all at Watershed xx

---