‘Bizarre’ Swansea event slammed as ‘rip-off’

‘My friend and I said it was almost like that bizarre Willy Wonka event – it was so bad you couldn’t quite believe you were there.’

A true crime-themed show in Swansea has been slammed as “bizarre”, “terrible” and a “rip-off”, with it compared to the viral Willy Wonka-style fiasco in Glasgow in 2024.

The True Crime and Wine event held at the Patti Pavilion near Swansea beach on Friday promised an evening of storytelling, entertainment and drinks, but attendees claim the reality was far from what was advertised.

Instead they claimed the event descended into chaos, with overcrowding, slow bar service, insensitive games and wine costing an additional £25 per bottle. People at the event claimed many audience members left disappointed well before the interval.

A spokesman for the show’s organisers said the team is “absolutely gutted” and has taken “learnings on board”, while a spokesman for Patti Pavilion said the event wasn’t a Patti-run event and True Crime and Wine was “responsible for the running of the show”.

Nicola, 52, told WalesOnline she attended with her friends expecting an enjoyable night based on their interest in true crime events. “I was expecting, to be honest with you, what was advertised: an interesting night,” she said.

She said she had been to similar events before that had been well organised but this one quickly felt different as soon as she entered the venue. “The Patti Pavilion, fair enough, it’s an interesting venue, but I would say it’s more suited to gigs than a theatrical production,” she said. “But I thought: ‘Let’s give it a go,’ it’s something I would potentially be really interested in.”

She claimed that what she found inside was an overcrowded layout that set the tone for the evening. “It was like walking into Oktoberfest. There were rows and rows and rows of benches. So, once you were in you were in. You couldn’t really move around. You felt like you were rammed in like sardines.”

Attention soon turned to the bar, which Nicola described as overwhelmed within 30 minutes of the doors opening. “The bar was chaos,” she said. “There were about 600 people there and they had two bars open and behind each bar there were just two people serving.”

She said she wasn’t expecting free bottles of wine on each table but she felt the offering didn’t match expectations. Wine was only available to purchase from the bar by the bottle for £25, she said, adding she and her friends had already paid £20.80 each for their tickets through provider Gigantic at a total of £83.20.

She said: “Their marketing was about the availability of wine and we were expecting little tasters of wine maybe. We weren’t expecting [free] bottles to be on the table but you would expect something. The white wine was tepid, which is being generous. People were asking for ice to chill it down. The red wine was freezing cold. I drank white wine and my other friend had a lemonade and my bar tab was £52.50 on top of paying £80-odd for tickets for the four of us as well.”

While the show began on time Nicola said many people were still standing up and queueing for drinks which proved distracting. “It was just shambolic; it was bizarre,” she said. “Everyone got very bored very quickly so everyone was making their own conversation.

“I did kind of feel for the two girls who were on the stage – they were no experts by any stretch of the imagination and I’m not sure where they found them. But they really weren’t particularly knowledgeable. They were in competition with a rowdy crowd so nobody could really hear anything. I can’t quite put into words how awful it was.”

Nicola said within minutes some attendees began leaving and by the interval she said a significant portion of the audience had already gone. “One of my friends left within 15 minutes and then the rest of us… we just about stuck it until the interval. The main reason being that we didn’t want to be that person that had gotten up and caused the Mexican wave of people moving out of their seats. But the majority of our row of seats had left by that point anyway. By the interval at least a third of the people had gone.”

She also questioned parts of the show itself, particularly interactive games which she felt were inappropriate given the subject matter. “It mentions games [on the advertisement] and personally I found some of the games quite inappropriate,” Nicola said. “At the end of the day anyone with a fascination with true crime knows that you still have to have that respect and sensitivity for the victims and their families.

“They played a Tinder swipe left swipe right game [about] if you think this person is a serial killer, or if you would survive the date. That’s nasty. That was below the belt, you should not make jokes like that.”

As the night ended Nicola said she and her friends left the venue trying to make sense of what they had experienced. “We were walking along the seafront just thinking: ‘What on earth just happened?’ Trying to unpack it on the way home. My friend and I said it was almost like that bizarre Willy Wonka event – it was so bad you couldn’t quite believe you were there.”

She added that attempts to raise concerns afterwards had only added to her frustration, with limited responses from organisers and ticket providers. “When I got home I messaged them (the organisers). The only way to contact them was by Facebook messenger. You can see on Facebook that lots of people have done that with no correspondence back whatsoever.

“I reached out to Gigantic and they shut me down straightaway. Eventbrite is about as much use as a chocolate teapot. We are all just in complete limbo. It was just money for nothing. These things aren’t cheap and you do look forward to them.”

While Nicola said the concept had potential, she felt the execution was the main issue. “The format of it in theory is good – if they did it in a venue like the Grand Theatre I think it could have worked well but it just really did feel like a free for all. People just lost interest immediately because they didn’t have a clue what was going on.”

Nicola wasn’t the only audience member to raise concerns about the event. Another attendee named Rhian claimed what should have been a “sophisticated evening” was “entirely misleading”.

She claimed: “From the outset the event failed to deliver on its promises. It was marketed as a sophisticated evening for true crime fans and wine enthusiasts, complete with a curated wine experience. In reality this claim was entirely misleading. The wine offering amounted to nothing more than a basic choice of red, white, or rosé, with no evidence whatsoever of the advertised curation.

“Once inside it quickly became clear that the event was badly organised and lacked even the most basic crowd management. The environment was rowdy and uncontrolled, making it nearly impossible to hear or follow the content on stage.

“As for the show itself, it was of an extremely poor standard. The content lacked structure, depth, and professionalism, falling far below what was advertised and what paying customers were led to expect. It felt less like a polished event and more like an unprepared and disjointed performance.”

Due to the combination of these issues, Rhian said she made the decision to leave after just 30 minutes. “Something I have never felt compelled to do at a paid event before,” she said.

Many audience members also posted their experiences on social media. One woman, named Debbie, wrote: “What a rip off. The venue was trestle tables and benches, not suited for this act which should have been in a theatre.

“The wine was £25 a bottle and the bar was understaffed with people still waiting to buy drinks when the show began. There was background music, the entrance doors were left open and everybody became disengaged which led to lots of chatting.

“I was invited to this event and came all the way from Winchester to attend with friends, we left after 20 minutes. It was so bad.”

Another, named Emma, shared: “Terrible. We left halfway through mainly due to not being able to hear anything because it was like trying to watch a show in a school canteen. The two cases we heard were odd choices and didn’t seem to fit and unfortunately the presenters weren’t very engaging.”

According to the organisers 19 refunds have been processed. In response to the seating arrangements and overcrowding, a spokesman for the event said: “We did not achieve a sell out on the event, finishing at about 15% under the official capacity. Unfortunately the seating layout was the only format that the venue was prepared to operate in. We agree that this hampered many people’s enjoyment of the show.”

On the issue of staffing, the spokesman said: “We are equally frustrated by the lack of staffing for the event. We expected more to be provided for an event of this size.”

Regarding the wine, they said: “The venue provided two options for each of red, white and rose. These were advertised on menus around the venue. Some comments have said the venue ran out. Wines were chosen by the venue and approved by us. We were not informed by the venue that they would not be selling wine by the glass.“

In response to points raised about the show and hosts, the event spokesman said: “We’re sorry if some people did not enjoy the performance aspect of the show and all feedback has been taken on board. We have received positive feedback on this aspect from our review forms, as well as many people explaining they simply could not hear the show properly. The hosts spent half an hour meeting audience members after the show and received no negative remarks.”

Responding to audio issues the spokesman said: “The quality of the sound in the venue was sadly not up to standard. We were assured in advance that it would be sufficient but this proved not to be the case.”

In response to the interactive game, they said: “The segment pointed to how people end up in relationships with criminals and people’s ability to determine a criminal just from looking at a face. The segment began with a picture of Joe Exotic.”

True Crime and Wine held a previous event at Cardiff’s Depot. One audience member who attended the event back in September, who gave his name as Mr Bridges, told WalesOnline that he also expected a complimentary glass of wine, “but there was nothing”. He said: “The whole thing was disappointing.”

The spokesman for True Crime and Wine responded: “As you are aware our event at Patti Pavilion has received some negative feedback which we hope to address. In total we have received 19 requests for refunds, which have all been processed.

“Any level of guest dissatisfaction is taken very seriously by us, hence sending our feedback survey straight after the show. Our aim is always to try to put on the best show possible, however in this setting with sociable garden bench style seating, it was simply not conducive to executing the show satisfactorily. We are absolutely gutted and have taken these learnings on board.”

A spokesman for Patti Pavilion said: “We are truly sorry to hear that some attendees were disappointed following the True Crime and Wine event held at The Patti on Friday. We would like to clarify that this was not a Patti-organised event. The venue was hired out to the event organisers who were responsible for the running of the show.

“We understand how frustrating this has been for those who attended and we are currently trying to get in contact with the organisers to discuss the concerns raised and help get this matter resolved. Thank you for your understanding and continued support.”

The organisers have upcoming events in Dudley and Winchester, according to Eventbrite. WalesOnline has contacted Eventbrite for comment, while a spokesman for Gigantic responded: “Gigantic are the ticket agent and have no involvement in the organising of the event.”

A separate blog, also named True Crime and Wine, shared a post on social media detailing how they had become swept up in the backlash aimed at the Swansea event. It states: “It appears there was an event last night called ‘True Crime and Wine’ in Wales that is receiving some negative feedback.

“I just want to confirm and reiterate that this event is not me and was not organised by me either. It’s a different organisation using the same name. Please check before tagging me and leaving me negative reviews.”