There are a lot more people going to terrace parties than can fit on a rooftop

You might have noticed a lot of people are going to terrace parties this summer.

Fair enough: the summer 2016 dream is to have sun, a credible DJ and a view that pulls in The Shard. Plus, being up high makes us feel like we’ve made it.

Accordingly, 4,400 people have clicked attending on the Summer Solstice Day & Night Terrace Party (it’s in June, and currently the venue is secret) and an additional 28,000 people are “interested”. To give some context that’s nearly half of the population of Brixton – all before the line-up or venue has even been released.

Cue the inevitable, “buying five tickets. Will pay above face value. Message me”. That’s because you can’t actually fit that many thousands of people on a roof terrace – so they can’t sell anywhere near as many tickets as there is demand.

Or take Gin & Juice – the Notorious Terrace Party, another big one: it has 2,000 people “going” and 7,100 “interested”, which is about average for one of these rooftop Facebook events. The party doesn’t even take place until June. And it might be a bit tight seeing as The Prince of Wales in Brixton only has a terrace capacity of 350 – it’s one of London’s bigger rooftops.

Oval Space’s May Bank Holiday BBQ and terrace event (first weekend of May) has also sold out. 1,800 people claim to be “going” and 6,100 people are “interested”. Oval Space told us just 120 people can actually fit out on the terrace.

On the other hand, some events just don’t sell. 8,400 people are “interested” in the East London Terrace Party, and 1,400 are “going”. On the other hand, only a fraction of this actually bought tickets, as they’re still on sale. Maybe because it’s actually on a rooftop. Summer Terrace Party (notice a pattern in these names?) has a similar, sorry tale: 1,400 claim they’re attending but the second release hasn’t sold out yet.

Roof parties sound cool – it’s a way of signalling you’re of the zeitgeist. But come May, it’s likely you – and your entire Facebook network – will be on the ground not high in the sky.