Unlike our BSU venue and university spaces which can be booked for FREE, external venues can be very expensive. Be careful, even when it sounds like a good deal there is likely to be a catch such as:
Minimum bar spend – If the minimum spend is £1,000 and your guests only spend £500, you will still be charged £1,000.
Minimum numbers – If minimum numbers are 80 and you only sell 40 tickets, you will still be charged for 80.
Approved Venues
We work closely with a range of venues and affiliated nightclub partners across Brighton to get you the best deal.
ALL external venue hires must have:
A Contract (provided by the venue)
This must be signed by the Student Activities Manager
Never sign your own contracts or you could be liable to pay thousands of pounds!

Below is our brochure of pre-negotiated deals with hotels. These are great options for a large scale event such as a Grad Ball:
Society-Graduation-Ball-packages-2022
Grad Ball (or Large Scale Event)
Here is the Grad Ball (or large scale event) timeline:
Grad-Ball-Timeline
Grad Ball (or Large Scale Event)
Paying the External Venue
External venues have strict booking conditions.
To protect you from financial risk THESE STEPS must be taken in THIS ORDER:
Set up deposit tickets
We can set these up on the BSU website a minimum of 10-12 weeks before the event date.
TIP: Give everyone a deadline to buy their ticket so you reach your target in time!
Sell deposit tickets – hit target
As soon as you hit the minimum numbers stated by the venue we can proceed.
Once steps 1 & 2 have been met
BSU will sign the contract, pay the venue and secure the booking.
What happens if we don’t meet the target?
IF you have followed the above steps and can’t sell enough deposit tickets, you can cancel the event and we can refund ticket holders. This is because the money has not yet reached the venue, nor has the contract been signed. Phew!
Regular Socials & Promoter Opportunities
Here are some ideas of how you can help us, help you!
Attend your affiliated student nights! We can reward you with society VIP areas, reward cards for each venue, sectioned off areas if you are celebrating a particular occasion.
Help with our promotion and earn kick backs! In September 2022 we will be launching our affiliate initiative where by promoting our events you could be rewarded with funding for your society. By joining our rep programme you can receive free tickets to events (limited to promoters or 2 per society).
We can also help promote your events, whatever you’re up to! Make sure to tag @subrighton and @subrighton.events on Instagram so our team can share them for you!