As a Glastonbury veteran, Katharine Hubbard has spent a decade camping at Worthy Farm in Somerset, but it wasn’t until 2023 that the 38-year-old attended the festival without alcohol
Katharine Hubbard, a seasoned Glastonbury festival-goer, is set to make her 10th pilgrimage to the iconic Worthy Farm in Somerset this year and she’s bursting to tell anyone who’ll listen how the world-renowned music and arts event can be just as delightful sans booze.
Following an alcohol-free Dry January success two years previously, Hubbard decided to prolong her abstention into the festival season, experiencing her very first booze-free Glasto.
Speaking about her decision, Hubbard revealed: “I always do Dry January and I’d read that you need to do it for three months to feel the difference in your body so I didn’t drink in January 2023 to March, and then by the end of March, I was like, I’m not really bothered about drinking again. So, I just carried on not drinking through to that Glastonbury and beyond for a bit,” and added, “I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be as fun, but it turns out that I was!”.
Reflecting on her sober experience at Glastonbury, festival veteran Hubbard spoke candidly to all the festival-goers considering a booze-free time.
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Hubbard sang the praises of sobriety amongst party revellers, stating: “I was a bit worried about not being fun enough. Would I be able to get into the swing of things? Would I be the boring person in the group? But I didn’t find that at all,” she admitted. “I would actually say out of all the Glastonburys I’ve been to, 2023 was the best one. It was really amazing.”
Her night-out with inebriated friends led Hubbard to realise: “One night we were up till 6am and everyone I was with was drinking, but I didn’t feel any difference between my experience and theirs.”
For those gearing up for the legendary music and arts event, Hubbard recommended joining the vibrant dialogue on Reddit’s Glastonbury Festival community page. According to Hubbard, the r/glastonbury_festival subreddit, with its whopping 71,000 followers and staggering 3.6 million visits over the past month as per Reddit’s statistics, proved to be a hub of festival know-how.
Hubbard enjoys the virtual company of fellow enthusiasts, saying: “There’s often people on the page who’ve never been before and it’s quite nice to just dip in and give advice.”
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Whether providing packing pointers or arrival times, Hubbard highlighted an increasing number of posts this year centred around alcohol-free festival enjoyment: “Sometimes it will be about what you need to pack, sometimes it’s about what time to arrive on site, but this year I’ve noticed quite a few posts about people asking what it is like to not drink at the festival and if there any non-alcoholic options.
“Sometimes it’s pregnant women chipping in because they are obviously not drinking, but for most people it seems to be more of a choice, and it is really nice to see how many people are up for giving it a go.
“People won’t notice,” she said. “If you’re worried about how your friends would react, you don’t have to share that you are not drinking. People might not even notice. Everyone just takes their own alcohol into Glastonbury and drinks out of miscellaneous bottles, so you can just put in whatever you like.
“Mine was filled with water and electrolytes, whereas my friends’ bottles were probably filled with 50% vodka and 50% coke, so no one actually noticed that I wasn’t drinking. I think that helps integrate you more if you are worried about people being funny about you not drinking.
“I think I actually had a lot more energy than anyone else in our group because day drinking in the sun doesn’t necessarily make you feel great,” reflected Hubbard. “I felt a lot more sprightly, was able to run around the site, and definitely, by the last day, I felt like I had more energy than the rest of the group, because it’s pretty gruelling.
“They do sell non-alcoholic beer on site, so you can still buy cold drinks on site and feel like you’re in the vibe,” said Hubbard. “However, a lot of people on the Reddit page pointed out that there only tends to be one type of non-alcoholic alternative at each bar.
“But maybe the festival organisers will have identified that and improved it, because it’s definitely become more of a trend for people to be looking for non-alcoholic alternatives.
“I also had lots of sweeties because I felt like everybody was filling up on beers and stuff and I was getting hungry quite a lot, so I had to pack a lot of snacks just to keep up with everybody,” shared Hubbard.
“I think at Glastonbury you can do everything sober that you would do drunk because you’re not there necessarily to drink,” said Hubbard. “You are there to experience the music, the comedy, or the talks. There is so much going on 24/7.”
