Machynlleth Comedy Festival

What Machynlleth Comedy Festival does

Machynlleth Comedy Festival is an annual curated comedy and performing arts festival held over the Early May Bank Holiday weekend in the market town of Machynlleth, Powys, Wales. Founded in 2011 and operated by Little Wander Ltd (a private company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales, company number 07468194), the festival delivers over 200 shows of comedy, theatre, music and children's entertainment across multiple venues within a 10-minute walking radius, including the 499-seat Mach Arena, the 250-seat Y Plas Main Hall, the 180-seat Ysgol Bro Hyddgen Main Hall, and the 15th-century Owain Glyndwr Centre. The 2026 edition marks the festival's 15th year and attracts 7,000+ attendees plus an online audience, with dedicated Welsh-language programming through the Comedy Translates bilingual show.

The technology stack supporting the festival is operational rather than differentiated: ticketing is delivered via the Ticketsolve online platform, a dedicated iOS/Android mobile app was launched in April 2025, accessibility is supported by live open captioning in three venues and the Listen Everywhere hearing loop system, and distribution combines the festival website, email newsletter, Twitter, Facebook, a curated Spotify playlist, and physical programme distribution of 9,000 copies across Wales and key UK cities. BBC Radio Wales holds naming rights to the Mach Arena and BBC Radio 4 Extra records its Comedy Club from the festival, both partnerships in place since 2012.

The business model is multi-stream and event-driven. Direct revenue is generated from individual show tickets priced between £6 and £28, festival camping at £50 per adult for the weekend (plus £25 for under 18s, £60 per campervan, £15 parking), bespoke sponsorship packages, programme advertising, and food and beverage sales across multiple bars and street food traders. A £2 per ticket Restoration Levy supports ongoing festival development. Recurring public funding from the Welsh Government's Major Events Unit, Visit Wales, the Tourism Product Innovation Fund, and Powys County Council has been in place since 2012, supplementing earned revenue. Customer segments include comedy and performing arts enthusiasts, Welsh-speaking audiences, families with children, accessibility-needs attendees, and business sponsors and advertisers.

Name

Machynlleth Comedy Festival

Legal name

Little Wander Ltd

Website

https://machcomedyfest.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Machynlleth Comedy Festival is an annual curated comedy and performing arts festival held in Machynlleth, Wales, delivering 200+ shows across multiple venues to 7,000+ attendees, operated by Little Wander Ltd with Welsh-language programming and accessibility provisions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Live Comedy Festival / Performing Arts Events

NAICS

Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries (711), All Other Amusement and Recreation Industries (71399)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Comedy Festivals (MPAGACAD)

Keywords

• Comedy festival
• Live comedy events
• Festival ticketing
• Welsh-language comedy
• Performing arts festival

Headquarters

HQ city

Wales

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: Individual show tickets sold through the festival box office and online ticketing system. Restoration Levy of £2 per ticket goes to the festival for continued development and improvement.
2. Camping and Accommodation: Festival campsite pitches sold at £50 per adult for the weekend (2026), with reduced rates for under 18s (£25) and free for under 5s. Campervan/caravan pitches at £60 per vehicle. Additional camping add-ons include parking at £15 per vehicle.
3. Sponsorship Packages: Bespoke sponsorship packages available for businesses, connecting with an audience of over 7,000 people. Flexible, collaborative approach to create custom sponsorship arrangements.
4. Programme Advertising: 9,000 copies of festival programme distributed in advance around Wales and key UK cities, offering quarter, half and full page advertising at competitive rates
5. Food and Beverage Sales: Festival bars (Beech Bar, Owain Glyndwr Centre bar, Mach Arena bottle bar) and street food trader pitches generate revenue from food and drink sales during the festival weekend

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Machynlleth Comedy Festival is an annual curated comedy festival held over the Early May Bank Holiday weekend in the market town of Machynlleth, Wales. The festival offers over 200 shows of comedy, theatre, music, and children's entertainment across multiple town-centre venues within a 10-minute walking radius. Supporting offerings include on-site camping, glamping, food and beverage concessions, accessibility services, and a printed/digital programme plus mobile app.

Product overview

Machynlleth Comedy Festival is an annual multi-day comedy festival held in May in the Welsh market town of Machynlleth. The core offering is the festival itself featuring over 200 shows of comedy, theatre, music, and children's entertainment across multiple venues including Y Plas Main Hall (250 seats), The Mach Arena (499 seats), Ysgol Bro Hyddgen Main Hall (180 seats), and various smaller venues throughout the town. Supporting products and services include a mobile app for iOS and Android, an annual printed/digital programme, curated Spotify playlists for festival music, on-site festival camping and glamping (Fred's Yurts), food and beverage services across multiple bars, and accessibility services including live captioning and hearing loops. The festival operates as a curated, boutique comedy event organised by Little Wander Ltd.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Machynlleth Comedy Festival Annual curated comedy festival held over the Early May Bank Holiday weekend, featuring over 200 shows of comedy, theatre, music, and children's entertainment across multiple town-centre venues in Machynlleth, Powys, Wales. Targets individual attendees and families seeking a boutique festival experience.
• Festival Programme Annual printed and digital programme guide listing all festival shows, performers, venues, and scheduling information. Distributed free to attendees and across Wales and key UK cities.
• Festival Mobile App Mobile application available on iOS and Android providing festival information, show schedules, and programme access for attendees.
• Festival Camping On-site festival campsite with facilities including 24-hour security, hot showers, toilets, drinking water, and phone charging. Located behind the Co-Op, minutes from all venues.
• Fred's Yurts (Glamping) Luxury glamping accommodation featuring bell tents and yurts with wood burners, real beds, and festival campsite location, offered as a paid accommodation add-on.
• Food and Beverage Service Festival bars (including Beech Bar with 50 cask ales, cocktail bar) and street food offerings at Plas and Owain Glyndwr Centre venues, generating food and drink sales during the festival weekend.
• Accessibility Services Accessibility provisions including live open captioning, hearing loops via Listen Everywhere system, Hynt scheme for disabled patrons, accessible toilet facilities, and a dedicated access information point.

Quantifiable outcome

• 7,000+ festival attendees annually
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Welsh GovernmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Welsh Government's Major Events Unit (MEU) has supported Machynlleth Comedy Festival with funding since 2012. The support has been integral to the festival's growth and development. Funding also provided via Welsh Government's Tourism Product Innovation Fund.
• Visit WalescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVisit Wales has been a major supporter of the Festival since 2012 through the Major Event Unit and Tourism Product Innovation Fund, promoting Wales as a tourist destination.
• BBC Radio WalescoreGTM or Marketing PartnerBBC Radio Wales has broadcast from the festival since 2012, naming the Mach Arena as a key venue partnership. Ongoing ties are important for comedy in Wales.
• Creative WalescoreGTM or Marketing PartnerCreative Wales partnership specifically focuses on venue sponsorship of the Tabernacle venue to enhance development of Welsh artists at the event and improve festival accessibility.
• Powys County CouncilminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe tourism department of Powys County Council has consistently supported the event with funding since 2012.
• BBC Radio 4 ExtraminorGTM or Marketing PartnerBBC Radio 4 Extra has recorded their weekend Comedy Club from the Festival since 2012, with a digital archive of all content available.
• Y PlascoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerY Plas is the main town hall venue housing the Main Hall (250 seats) and Vane Tempest meeting room, used for showcases and main performances.
• Bro Ddyfi Leisure Centre (Mach Arena)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Mach Arena (499 seats) is housed within the Bro Ddyfi Leisure Centre and named after BBC Radio Wales sponsorship.
• Owain Glyndwr CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner15th century venue housing the Billiard Room (100 seats), Senedd-Dy, Powys Room, and festival box office. Site of historic parliament held in 1404.
• Fred's YurtsminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartnership offering luxury camping accommodation with bell tents and yurts featuring real beds and log burners on the festival campsite.
• Criw CompostiominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal community composting scheme that collects compostable food waste from festival food and drink traders, turning it into compost for horticultural projects in Machynlleth.
• Y Pantri / Machynlleth Food SurplusminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to collect food that would otherwise go to waste from the festival, working with traders to reduce food surplus for future years.
• HyntcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational access scheme working across arts venues in Wales to ensure consistent accessibility provisions for visitors with impairments or specific access requirements.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Edinburgh Festival Fringe: The dominant UK comedy festival at vastly greater scale; overlaps with Machynlleth's comedy programming category and talent pool, but operates as a broad multi-arts August festival rather than a curated boutique event.
• Green Man Festival: Welsh multi-arts festival in the Brecon Beacons where Little Wander Ltd programs the comedy strand; comparable Welsh festival ecosystem participant with overlapping talent and audience, but at materially larger scale and broader genre mix.
• Latitude Festival: Multi-arts UK festival with a significant comedy and theatre programming strand, drawing on a similar performer pool; relevant benchmark for comedy programming depth and audience demographic.

Regional players

• Hay Festival: Major cultural festival held in Hay-on-Wye, mid-Wales/Powys region, with a similar rural-Wales, multi-arts, public-funding-supported profile, though focused on literature rather than comedy specifically.

Direct peers

• Brighton Comedy Festival: UK city-based dedicated comedy festival with multi-venue programming across a weekend — directly comparable format to Machynlleth, though in a large urban setting rather than rural Wales.
• Aberystwyth Comedy Festival: Sister festival launched in 2018 by Little Wander Ltd, the same operator as Machynlleth Comedy Festival, offering a directly comparable curated comedy festival model in a different Welsh town.
• Leicester Comedy Festival: One of the UK's longest-running dedicated comedy festivals, with a similar multi-venue, curated-acts model and a comparable scale of programming — the closest UK direct comparable in category.
• Mach Comedy (Little Wander programming network): Little Wander's year-round Welsh comedy programming that feeds into Machynlleth Comedy Festival; functions as a talent pipeline and complementary live-event portfolio.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/machcomedyfest
• Facebookfacebook.com/machcomedyfest
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/machynlleth-comedy-festival

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Machynlleth Comedy Festival