Coach Hire to Chichester Festival Theatre

Coach and minibus hire to Chichester Festival Theatre

Coach hire to Chichester Festival Theatre with JRP Direct gets your theatre club, social group or drama class to Oaklands Park in Chichester for a matinee or evening performance, and home again together after the curtain. JRP Direct runs that service from Buttons Farm at Cross in Hand, near Heathfield in East Sussex, where the family-run business has kept a modern fleet of 15 vehicles since 2019. This page explains how the theatre manages coach arrivals and collections, how to plan around matinee and evening timings, the group ticket offers the theatre runs and which vehicle suits a theatre trip.

How coach arrivals and collections work at the theatre

Chichester Festival Theatre runs a set procedure for coach groups, and it starts when you book your tickets. The theatre asks group bookers to say at the time of booking that they will be arriving by coach. Before the visit, the theatre sends the group a coach number, which the driver displays in the windscreen to be allowed onto the theatre site.

The coach drop-off point is outside the Festival Theatre and the coach park is in Via Ravenna, formerly Cathedral Way. On arrival, the theatre’s security staff direct the driver, and the driver leaves a mobile number with security to arrange the pickup. The theatre notes that a coach arriving before its allocated time may not be allowed onto the site.

After the performance, the group leader gathers the group and gives the coach number to security, who then call each driver back with a collection time. With several coaches at most performances, the theatre warns there may be a short wait while vehicles are brought in one at a time. Pass us the coach number as soon as it arrives and our driver will follow the procedure on the day.

Matinees, evening performances and the journey home

The Festival season at Chichester runs between April and November, with touring productions and a Christmas show through the winter. Running times are usually published in the week of the first performance, and intervals normally last between 15 and 20 minutes, so the return time for an evening show is best confirmed once the running time is known.

Latecomers cannot be admitted to the Minerva Theatre, and latecomers to the Festival Theatre may have to wait for a suitable break in the performance. We agree a departure time that gets your group to Chichester with time to collect tickets and find their seats, and our drivers arrive at the pickup 15 minutes early as standard.

Evening and event travel more widely is covered on our minibus hire for events page.

Making a day of it in Chichester

Alongside its performances, Chichester Festival Theatre runs Theatre Days, which give 90 minutes of insight from the creative and technical teams and can be combined with the matinee. Free pre-show talks need booking, while post-show talks simply mean staying in your seat. Private backstage tours of the Grade II* listed building can be arranged for groups of 8 to 30, and the Brasserie serves set pre-show menus. Tell us if your plans include an earlier start for a tour or a meal and we will build it into the timings.

Accessible travel for theatre groups

The theatre asks group members with access requirements to join its Access List and to tell the Box Office about their needs when the tickets are booked. There is a drop-off area in front of the Festival Theatre, reached from the Broyle Road entrance. For groups that include a wheelchair user, our executive coach carries 51 seated passengers and one wheelchair, using a professionally maintained lift.

Getting to Chichester from East Sussex and Kent

Chichester Festival Theatre is at Oaklands Park, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 6AP. The theatre points coach and car travellers to the A27, which runs along the coast linking Hampshire, Sussex and Kent. Pickups for Chichester theatre trips run from towns and villages in Sussex and Kent, among them Heathfield, Uckfield, Lewes, Brighton, Hove, Worthing, Eastbourne, Seaford and Burgess Hill.

Request a quote for coach hire to Chichester Festival Theatre

For coach hire to Chichester Festival Theatre, send us the performance date and time, the number of passengers, your pickup points and your coach number if you already have it, and the office will send a written quote.

Telephone 01435 515099 or email info@jrpdirect.co.uk, and online quote requests are welcome too.