The war memorial, the bonfire field, and the town clerk.
A town or parish council runs a handful of ticketed events a year, most of them free to attend, all of them paid for out of the precept. The clerk runs the lot, often single-handed, alongside the planning applications and the cemetery records. Most ticketing platforms charge a monthly subscription whether you have an event on or not, and a per-reservation fee even on a free Remembrance service. Seaty does neither. Free for the free events and the cash events, one transparent fee only when you take a card payment online.
Free civic events, with no fee on every reservation.
When an event does charge, the council still pays nothing if the money comes in as cash on the gate, a cheque to the council account, or a bank transfer. If you take card payments online, there is one transparent per-transaction fee, and you choose whether to absorb it or add it at checkout for residents who pay by card. Either way there is no setup fee, no monthly subscription, and no contract. For the wider picture, see our guide to ticketing for UK councils and how UK ticketing fees actually work.
Civic events the way a council actually runs them.
A free Remembrance service needs a headcount and accessible places, not a marketing checkout. A civic dinner needs a price per head and a dietary list. A lights switch-on needs a free reservation so the church concert afterwards does not overflow. Seaty sets each of these up in minutes, and members of the public book with just an email address, which matters when half the town is over seventy and will not create an account.
- Free reserved places for Remembrance services and civic ceremonies
- General admission for fetes, markets, proms in the park, and fireworks
- Reserved seating for civic dinners, mayor-making, and awards evenings
- Buyers check out with just an email address, no password, no app
- Concessions, family tickets, and resident rates all supported
- Custom questions for dietary needs, access requirements, and parking
Free Remembrance service this November?
Cash on the gate and a scanner that works in a field with no signal.
The bonfire and fireworks night is the big one: two thousand people on the recreation ground, a cashbox at the gate, and one bar of signal if you stand by the pavilion and hold your phone up. Sell advance tickets online for the presale, then take cash on the night. The app caches the door list beforehand, so stewards scan, mark walk-ups as paid, and keep a live count without any internet at all. Everything reconciles to the cashbox afterwards, which is exactly what the responsible financial officer needs for the records.
- Door list cached for offline use, no signal needed on the gate
- Advance online presale running alongside cash on the night
- Walk-ups marked as paid in the app or ticked off a printed sheet
- Live attendance count for the stewards, the safety officer, and the SAG return
- Totals reconcile to the cashbox for the responsible financial officer
Bonfire night on the recreation ground?
Built for the way a council has to account for itself.
Multiple logins, clear permissions, a clean audit trail
A council is accountable to its residents, its internal controls, and its external auditor. The clerk, a deputy clerk, the responsible financial officer, and individual councillors can each have their own login with exactly the access they need and nothing more. Every order, refund, and change is logged, so the paper trail is there for the records and the annual audit. Stewards on the gate get a device login that only lets them scan.
- Separate logins for the clerk, deputy clerk, RFO, and councillors
- Granular permissions so people see only what their role needs
- Full audit trail of orders, refunds, and changes for the annual audit
- Limited device logins for stewards who only need to scan on the gate
- Records survive a change of clerk, with no contract to transfer
Reach residents, sell the programme, run the markets.
A monthly farmers' market or a weekly summer band concert does not need a separate booking app: set the schedule once and let residents book whichever date suits. Sell the town show programme, the fete wristbands, and the festival merchandise alongside the tickets in one order. Email the people who booked last year's switch-on about this year's, straight from the dashboard, without exporting a spreadsheet into a separate mailing tool.
- Recurring markets and concert series set up once and reused
- Programmes, wristbands, and merchandise sold alongside tickets
- Mailshots to last year's attendees direct from the dashboard
- One organisation page holds the venue info, parking, and access details
- Gift Aid on eligible donations where the event raises funds for a registered charity
Why a town or parish council needs different ticketing.
If your council runs a free Remembrance service and a free lights switch-on, generic platforms still charge a fee on every reservation. Three hundred free places at the war memorial becomes a bill on an event that took no money at all. That is a hard line to defend at the finance committee.
If your council runs four ticketed events a year, a monthly subscription is the wrong shape. You pay through the quiet months for a platform you are not using, and a precept-funded body with a duty to show value for money should not be carrying a subscription it cannot justify between November and the following summer.
Stripe Checkout will take a card payment, but it will not give you a seating plan for the civic service, a door list that works without signal in the bonfire field, an accessible-seat marker for the war memorial, or an audit trail for the external auditor. The clerk ends up rebuilding most of an event system in a spreadsheet, and the next clerk inherits it.
Seaty sits where a council actually operates. Free for the free events and the cash events. A simple per-transaction fee only for the card events. Seating, scanning, accessibility, permissions, and an audit trail in one place, with no subscription and no contract. Many councils also own or run the local village hall, and hold their civic services in the parish church, both of which work the same way on Seaty.
Access needs, captured before the day.
Wheelchair spaces, hearing loops, and the questions that matter
A council has a duty to make its events accessible, and the day goes better when you know in advance. Mark wheelchair spaces and companion seats on a reserved seating plan for a civic service or concert, or collect mobility, hearing-loop, and access needs as a custom question on a free booking. The answers arrive with the booking, so the stewards and the clerk can plan the ramp, the reserved row, and the accessible parking before anyone turns up.
Accessible seating
Mark wheelchair and companion spaces directly on the seating plan for civic services and concerts
Access questions
Collect mobility, hearing-loop, and access needs as custom questions on free general admission bookings
Planned in advance
Answers arrive with the booking so stewards can prepare ramps, reserved rows, and accessible parking
Your duty stays yours
For how public-sector accessibility duties work alongside a platform, see the councils guide
