Cheltenham Festival Limits Crowds

As a direct result of customer feedback, the racecourse has decided to lower the crowd limit to 55,000 for the first three days of the Cheltenham Festival in 2006, and to raise prices accordingly. Prior to the 2005 Cheltenham festival the major complaint by visitors was the huge crowds and how difficult it was to move around from the betting ring to the parade ring and even get a beer or a cup of tea. In making the festival four days instead of three it was much more pleasurable for the crowds who had less people to contend with as the crowds were more evenly spread out over the four days which has now brought about a new limit on the amount of people who will gain admittance which is now capped at 55,000.Edward Gillespie, Cheltenham’s managing director, declared: “Next week, we will be writing to everyone who bought badges this year, thanking them for their support and input. We’ll tell them that the board has decided to keep crowd levels from Tuesday to Thursday at approximately the same level and that, in order to remain on our route to new investments, there will be a slight price increase.” In the great scheme of things, “slight” is the correct word — advance Club badges for the first three days will rise from £57 to £60, with Friday badges up £5 to £65 — and Gillespie must now hope that he has judged the public mood accurately. “Before March, it had become fashionable to think it was a bad idea to go to four days, but I have heard no one say that since,” he said. “The overwhelming reaction, both at the time and in the weeks since, was that people came in fear of it not working but went away thinking it was fantastic. We’ve made decisions based on that and we hope for a positive response.”

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