05/09/2026
Great post from Bensons Funfair, a real interesting insight to our industries ever rising running costs.
🎡 “£2 A RIDE IS EXPENSIVE…” — LET’S TALK ABOUT IT ❤️
We’ve seen a few comments recently on our posts saying that £2 per person for a fairground ride is still too expensive, so we thought we’d give a little insight into what actually goes on behind the scenes.
We completely understand that times are difficult and the cost of living has affected everyone. That’s actually one of the main reasons we’ve reduced our rides to just £2.
But that £2 doesn’t simply pay for the few minutes you’re sitting on a ride…
Behind every ride and every event are costs including:
🚛 Lorries & transport from town to town
⛽ Diesel & fuel
👷 Staff wages — while we’re OPEN and CLOSED
🔧 Maintenance, repairs & replacement parts
🛡️ Public liability & other business insurances
📋 Annual ADIPS testing, inspections & safety checks
📍 Site fees at EVERY event
💷 Pre-event ground damage deposits
🚧 Fencing & barriers
🦺 Security
🚻 Toilets & servicing
💧 Water supply & water testing
⚡ Generators, electricity & power
🗑️ Cleaning & waste disposal
📣 Advertising — posters, banners, leaflets, signage & social media advertising
📄 Licences, applications, paperwork & compliance
🎠 Setting up and de-rigging every event
And that’s only scratching the surface.
Our staff don’t only get paid when you see the fair open.
There are moving days, setting-up days, de-rigging days and maintenance days. Rides have to be transported, built, cleaned, maintained, repaired, inspected, tested and eventually taken back down and moved to the next town.
We don’t often get “days off” just because the fair is closed to the public.
🌧️ Then there’s the British weather…
We can spend thousands getting an event ready, paying site fees, deposits, transport, staff, insurance, testing, toilets, security, fencing, advertising and everything else…
Then it rains and hardly anybody comes.
Unfortunately, those costs don’t magically disappear because the customers didn’t turn up.
There are events where we don’t even cover what it has cost us to be there, meaning the difference comes out of our own pockets. But that’s the risk of running a business! Every business has its ups and downs.
❤️ We’re proudly a fifth-generation family funfair.
And just like everyone else, the rising cost of everything has affected us too. Many of the costs the public never sees have increased dramatically — some haven’t just doubled; some are approaching THREE TIMES what they once were.
💷 Now think about what £2 buys you in 2026…
☕ Often not even a takeaway coffee
🥤 Sometimes barely a bottle of drink
🍫 A chocolate bar can be £1–£2
📰 A daily newspaper can cost around £2 or more
🚗 In some places, £2 barely contributes towards parking
🍟 Often not enough for a portion of chips
Yet £2 at our fair gets you an experience — lights, music, excitement, laughter and hopefully some brilliant family memories. 🎠❤️
Where can you take a family nowadays with £20 and still have a great selection of entertainment with something for everyone?
That’s exactly what we’re trying to achieve.
We’ve deliberately reduced our rides to just £2 per person in the hope of attracting more families and making a trip to the fair a little easier on everyone’s pockets.
We’d genuinely love to make it even cheaper, but unfortunately £2 really is as low as we can go without running these events at a loss.
We’re not asking anyone to feel sorry for us — we love what we do. ❤️ We simply want people to understand what goes into putting a travelling funfair on before the gates even open.
And no… we’re certainly not making millions here! 😂
We’re a family business doing our best to keep a traditional family day out affordable while facing the same rising costs as everyone else.
So next time you see “RIDES JUST £2”, hopefully you’ll look at it a little differently. ❤️
Every visit genuinely supports our family business and helps keep traditional funfairs on the road for future generations.
To everyone who visits, shares our posts, recommends us and continues to support us — THANK YOU. It genuinely means the world to us. 🎡❤️
PROUDLY FIFTH GENERATION ⭐
SUPPORT LOCAL • SUPPORT TRADITIONAL FUNFAIRS 🎠
See you at the fair! ❤️🎡
