2025 April Rate Changes

As you may be aware last spring we committed to holding our prices until April 2025 and at our November AGM, we announced that we would be conducting a pricing review with a view to share a more detailed update to all hirers by the end of January 2025.

Therefore, at this time, we would like to inform you that we will be making changes to our pricing structure which will come into effect from 1st April 2025 and will impact any sessions booked for 1st April 2025 and beyond.

Details of which can be found below:

We realised that our services offered were confusing with the majority of rooms enjoying free access to kitchenettes whilst the main hall has a fully equipped kitchen, it was being charged at 2 different rates. We have therefore decided to abolish the minimal kitchen charge meaning hirers who use the main hall are welcome to use the basic facilities of the main hall kitchen such as the kettle, fridge and sink. Hires wanting to go beyond this to use the full crockery set, oven and dishwasher would still be required to pay our full kitchen rate which is moving up to £36. A similar increase has also been applied to any hirers selling alcohol as part of their sessions, with the license fee also increasing to £36 per session.

We looked at the way our rates are charged which was different depending on the hirer rate. To make things simpler and easier to understand, all rates will have the same peak and off-peak definition which will be the following:

Upon reviewing our rates with those of other locally equivalent venues, we found the majority of them did not provide any provision for free buffer time before or after a booking. In fact the majority made it clear to potential hires that they must include any setup or clear down time as part of their booking. We’ve had a number of occasional hirers not sure whether they should or should not include it. Given this and to ensure the centre is being competitive, we have decided effective immediately, to remove the buffer time for all new bookings made for sessions beyond 1st April 2025. 

This means existing sessions already in the booking system will not be impacted as long as no changes are made but we would ask that when you come to make any future bookings, that you ensure you include any required setup or clear down time as required. The centre admin team will monitor new bookings coming in and will clarify if needed to make sure this time has been considered.

It is important to note that any changes to existing sessions from 1st April, will also be impacted and buffer time will need to be paid for.

We have also enhanced our booking system so that all sessions from the 1st April can be booked in 15 minute increments (rather than 30), to allow greater flexibility for hires to book the time they need.

We discovered that the centre did not have any cancellation policy which is not standard practice and has led to significant loss to the centre. Therefore from the 1st April 2025, we will require at least 48 hours notice to cancel a session for any reason. This notice can be given via email or by leaving a message on our centre phone number. For regular & community group hirers, our booking system will also allow you to cancel your own sessions 5 days prior. 

We will also be issuing an updated T&C’s document to all hirers which will include this new term on the 1st April 2025. Cancellations within 48 hours will not be accepted and the session will be chargeable. You may view this updated T&C's document by clicking here.

When conducting this review it was important to us as Trustees to ensure that we considered the needs of our regular groups which are Community driven. With that in mind we have now decided that our Regular Hirer group will be split into 2. Businesses who are Regular hirers will continue to enjoy our regular hirer rate which is still significantly discounted from our occasional hirer rate.

Our newly created rate for our Community Groups will also benefit from a discounted rate which goes further than that of our regular rate.

This additionally discounted rate will apply to non-profit making local community organisations/groups based in the village, which predominantly organise activities for the Parishioners of Long Buckby. We also consider any charities wishing to hire the centre to be part of this group.

A full list of our existing regular hirers who will now fall into this new community group rate are listed below:

Given all the above, we can now confirm our new hire rates for our 3 rate groups which will apply to all sessions booked from 1st April 2025. The new rates for each group are listed below:

Community Group Rates - Per Hour
Off-Peak | Peak

Regular Hirers Rates - Per Hour
Off-Peak | Peak

Occasional Hirer Rates- Per Hour  
Off-Peak | Peak

Please note that there are no changes to the Stables Suite prices which remain at £10 per hour for all hirer groups. A downloadable PDF version of these rates is available by clicking here.

There is no change to the refundable deposit policy for occasional hirers.

For those that currently rent storage cupboards, we will be increasing the rate from £3.00 per square foot to £3.15 per square foot given these rates have not been changed for a significant period and are fair in relation to charges offered at similar venues. We will also be conducting a check on the storage room sizes to ensure they are accurate. Those with storage rooms will be emailed separately once the invoice is due in April to confirm any changes.

Note unless expressly agreed by the Trustee’s in writing, no equipment should be stored by any hirer on site unless part of a storage room.

As some hirers may already be aware, School Wrap have been awarded funding from WNC as part of The National Wraparound Programme, which will help to finance their plan, to provide more spaces for children to attend to support local working families. Therefore we need to inform you that the Castle Room will no longer be available for hire due to the extension of School Wrap.

As previously mentioned, the above rates will be applied to all sessions booked from 1st April 2025 and this will be actioned within our new booking system automatically for you and any invoices for sessions from the 1st April 2025 will reflect these new rates.

If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact the Trustees using this email address: [email protected]