Fast Forward 2017 will be held over one glorious weekend at a beautiful site called Thornbridge Outdoors, in the heart of the Peak District National Park. Fast Forward will open its doors at 4pm on 1st September.
Getting there by public transport [updated 29/08]
There are no trains to Grindleford on 1st September
On Friday 1st and Monday 4th September, the RMT will be striking which means large numbers of Northern services – including the Manchester-Sheffield service which stops at Grindleford – will be cancelled. There aren’t any plans to lay on replacement bus services. The Transpennine Express train service, which will be running, unfortunately doesn’t stop in Grindleford.
Don’t worry, there are a number of other easy ways to get to the venue. Check ‘em out below. If you need help or advice, you can call us from midday on Friday on the festival phone line on 07597 624943.
Get a bus to Bakewell!
We recommend that everyone coming by public transport should take buses to Bakewell. You then have two options. You can either get on one of our shuttle buses which will pick people up from the Community Transport bus stop outside of the Coop on Granby Road in Bakewell (look for the Fast Forward logo). Or, you can walk 6km from there on the Monsal Trail (the nice people at the Park authority even made this lovely map).
From Bakewell, you can also take an onward bus to Ashford in the Water and walk a shorter 1.5km to the site from there.
Our shuttle bus will leave from the Community Transport bus stop outside the Coop on Granby Road
Buses to Bakewell arrive at stops on either Rutland Road, Buxton Road, Square or Matlock Street. When you arrive please make your way to the Community Transport bus stop outside of the Coop on Granby Road (about 5 mins from each of the bus stops ), and look for a minibus with the Fast Forward 2017 logo displayed in its window. There may be some lovely folk helping us out using their own cars, so keep an eye out for them too. We’ll be running the shuttle bus approximately every half hour from 4-7pm, then on the hour every hour until 11pm.
Check your bus services to Bakewell from major cities here
From Manchester, you can get the Transpennine Bus (TP) bus from the Central Bus Station to Bakewell Buxton Road. It leaves at the following times: 0915, 1115, 1315, 1610, 1905.
If those times don’t work for you, another way to do this is to get one of the trains leaving regularly from Manchester Piccadilly to Buxton, where you can get the same Transpennnine Bus (TP) service from Buxton train station at 23 minutes to every hour until the last bus at 2013 (though note there are no buses between 1800 and 2000). It runs much more regularly than the direct service from Manchester does. This bus also stops at Ashford in the Water, from which Thornbridge is a shorter 1.5km, 20 minute walk.
From Sheffield Interchange, the 218 to Bakewell Rutland Road leaves every half an hour until 2045 (last bus).
From Derby, you can get the regular High Peak Transpeak bus from Derby bus station to Bakewell Buxton Road and get the shuttle bus (see above) or stop at Ashford in the Water and walk to the site.
From Chesterfield, take the 170 from New Beetwell Street to Bakewell Square. This runs at five past the hour with a final bus at 1850.
Leaving the by public transport on Sunday 3rd September
Trains will run from Grindleford as normal on the Sunday when Fast Forward comes to an end.
The last plenary will finish at 2pm with lunch finishing at 3pm. You’re welcome to take a packed lunch with you or stay and eat with us. We will be running shuttle buses back to Grindleford from midday, but anticipate there being a bit of a queue.
If the weather isn’t terrible, we anticipate that there’ll be people walking back to Bakewell to get buses throughout the afternoon. Buses to Chesterfield from Bakewell Square leave at 10 past the hour every hour. Buses to Manchester from Bakewell Buxton Road leave at 1059, 1359 and 1659. There are buses every half hour from Bakewell Rutland St to Sheffield too. There will be regular trains running throughout the day from Grindleford to both Manchester and Sheffield.
We’d like everyone to be off the site by 4pm at the latest so that we can clear up.
Coming by car
There will be some, but limited, car parking available at the venue. So please let us know when you book if you will require a parking space. If you anticipate having seats going in your car, or you’re looking for a lift, please announce this on the pinned post on our Facebook event. Or if you’re not on Facebook, drop us an email.
We’d also love support ferrying people to Grindleford station when the festival finishes at 3pm on Sunday, since we anticipate it being a greater volume of people than our shuttle can cope with. If you can do this, you are excellent. Please let us know on the weekend.
Click on the map below to get the location on Google Maps:
Ticket price includes accommodation and food (breakfast, lunch, dinner) from 4pm Friday 17th August until 5pm Sunday 19th August.
Ticket Types: £80 - Solidarity* / £60 - Standard** / £35 - Concession*** / Under 16s go free
* help us fund those least able to afford it and cover the costs of under 16s who go free this year.
** help us cover the basic costs of Fast Forward so that we break even
* for those that can't afford the standard costs. If this is still a stretch, please get in touch and we’ll try to work something out
Refunds policy:
We will be able to provide full refunds up till the Monday 31st July, half refunds up to to Monday 14th August, and nothing thereafter. However, once tickets sell out and we have a waiting list we will be happy to facilitate ticket exchanges.
Tickets on Sale Now
