Cheaper beer at all meetings, the return of an official Ladies Day at the festival meeting in March and a slight reduction to the capacity on all four days of its showpiece event are among the “enhancements to the customer experience” announced by Cheltenham in the build-up to the new jumping season at the track, which opens on October 24th.
Attendance at the Cheltenham Festival, which will run from March 10th to 13th next year, has been in sharp decline since a post-Covid high of 280,627 in 2022, and the crowd of 41,949 spectators for the second day of this year’s meeting was the lowest for any day at the event since 1993.
As a result, the second day of the 2026 festival, on March 11th, will be promoted as Ladies Day for the first time since 2019, in an attempt to reverse the decline from an attendance of 64,431 in 2022, a drop of 34 per cent in just three seasons.
Racegoers will also be able to enjoy an enhanced audiovisual experience during the afternoon at all meetings this season, following upgrades to the public-address system and improvements to the track’s big-screen content, while the prices of many drinks will be reduced from last season. In the case of a pint of Guinness – something of a benchmark for the racecourse because of its long-standing association with the festival in particular – that will mean a 30p cut, from £7.80 (€8.94) to £7.50 (€8.59).
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Changes to the facilities on offer for festival racegoers include a covered food court in the tented village, which will also act as shelter from the elements on rainy days, while a successful trial of additional areas where drinks were permitted during the 2024-25 season has prompted the removal of all restrictions in the Club enclosure from the start of the new season. Punters toasting a big winner, meanwhile, will no longer be obliged to stump up for a bottle of champagne, as prosecco will be available at the racecourse bars for the first time.
The latest changes to Cheltenham’s offering follow initial amendments introduced before the 2025 festival by Guy Lavender, the new chief executive, who arrived from a similar role with Marylebone Cricket Club in January. Lavender’s early initiatives included a freeze on ticket prices at 2024 levels and a scheme in association with the travel company Venatour to offer lower prices for accommodation locally during festival week.
Lavender said: “We made a number of changes last year and have continued to look at ways to improve both the range of options and quality of service and facilities for all of those who join us at Cheltenham. We know that value for money is one of the most important factors for people to consider when deciding which events to attend and that is especially the case at the festival. I’ve said previously that value for money is not always driven by reducing prices and can often be achieved by improving the quality of the offering.
“There are certain things we can do on course like reducing the price of a pint and improving our facilities. However, there are other factors which influence people’s decisions on whether to attend, like hotel prices, that are not entirely within our control, which is why we are continuing to work with Venatour to secure better value for our visitors.”
Tickets for next year’s festival are currently available at “early bird” rates of £47 (€53), £67 (€77) and £100 (€115) for the Best Mate, Tatts and Club enclosures respectively until 4 December, when prices will rise to £54 (€62), £75 (€86) and £109 (€125).
“We were always very clear that the success of the 2025 festival would not be determined by attendance, but by the experience we provided for our racegoers,” Lavender said. “We received some incredibly positive feedback from this year’s event which demonstrated that the changes we had made had worked and we are hugely encouraged by the ticket sales we have seen for next year’s festival already.” – Guardian
