Festival Week Nightlife

O'Neills is owned by the same company but has been rebranded.. Much more of a food pub ( with higher prices )

I'm staying in Bishops Cleeve this year for the 1st time..Are there any establishments worth visiting their ?  Ta

O'Neills is now 'All Bar One' and very much a poncey, wine-bar type place.

laying, a few decent pubs in Bishops Cleeve area, the best of which is probably The Apple Tree in nearby Woodmancote. You may already know The Royal Oak in Prestbury - not far away at all. Decent pub.

Ta Glossy

All Bar One is a couple of units down from what used to be O'Neills.  O'Neills is now Harry Cook Freehouse.  Looks a bit poncy also!

chaps any recommendations for bars/pubs in cheltenham itself?

The Royal Oak is a top boozer (and it's in Cheltenham itself).

Laying, yes sorry you're right - got the 2 mixed up. As you say, they're much of a muchness.

TRD, the royal oak is in prestbury - its actually very close to the back of the course.

Depends what you're looking for lucky; what sort of bar/pub are you after?

We'll be in Bishops Cleeve (as ever) and frequenting (mainly) The Royal Oak and also the King's Head. One evening spent in the curry house before hitting the boozers.

It certainly is Glossy, and after a couple of early liveners in The Royal Oak i recommend the walk across the fields to the course, it gets the juices flowing as you approach the course directly opposite the main stand (slight digression fron nightlife there though!)

Lucky,you want to be heading to Taylors as its a good pub full of racing folk and is central so you can choose which way to move on.After racing i tend to go in the old restoration and work down through town

There's a marquee in someone's back garden behind the car park,you come out the back garden and the grandstand is in front of you,it's free to get in !

No surprise to see O'Neills go as most of the O'Neills chain went donkeys ago along with the rest of the 'Irish Bar' fad (Scruffy Murphys anyone?) that sprung up in the mid-late 90s.
A great. Steady pub in the Town Centre is the Bayshill which is behind the central bus station. Always busy, great atmosphere, lunchtime and evening, has music on throughout the week and serves good nosh for breakfast/lunch. Wadsworth pub with good range of beers. The usual run of Cotswold and Prince of Wales when hopping off the race buses is always good hectic fun immediately post the races for an hour or two but then they tend to quieten down later into the night these days. The Prince used to be brilliant craic before the old owner got rid two or three years back.

180 - great shout about Tailors, cant believe i'd forgotten it - we go every year!
There's great equality behind the bar - a token male barman alongside about 10 gorgeous young fillies guaranteed !

Tbh most pubs you go in Festival week are grand, full of race goers having the craic

I've had a couple of great meals at the Tivoli recently. Outstanding food. Drinks aren't cheap but it's a great place to relax after you've done your bollux at the race course.

The Tivoli was our watering hole when we used to go to Cheltenham. Lovely boozer.

Mr E... have you eaten in The Purslane?

We tend to go the same places every year and was going to give that a bash this year.

Also Mr E, forgot to ask... have any decent Chinese restaurants opened yet? Its about bleedin' time!

I havn't myself mate but my sister had her Christmas party there and said it was top notch. I've only heard very good things about the place.

The only Chinese I go to is Bar & wok on the lower high st. It's always very busy but the food is consistently good. There's a choice of about a dozen mains instead of the usual 100 or so but they always get the food spot on.

Brill, thanks mate

cheers for the tips lads....will have to be a crawl through cheltenham trying them all!!

Tailors is sounding good. Can I ask for recommendations for live music pubs/bars? If it makes any difference, particularly the Monday night.

Get tickets for the preview evening at the royal oak,davy Russell was hilarious last year,also richard Johnson,lovely bloke who put us all on fingal bay

Is that on the Monday night?

Tailors is great for live music.

Yes ccm,i woke up half cut and hadn't even seen a horse,someone advertised it on here last year

I think staying in Cheltenham is a bit of a rip off to be honest, especially when you have to book about a year in advance to get anywhere.

Then again, we're always in a big group (late 20's to early 30's) so we find it harder than most to find somewhere.

Thanks, Rathgorman - Tailors it is!

Then again, we're always in a big group (late 20's to early 30's) so we find it harder than most to find somewhere.

That's the age range by the way, not the size of the group - not that popular

There's normally between about 8 and 10 of us, so we're happy with somewhere like Worcester or Bristol at the moment, but I reckon when we get older the group will get smaller and we'll look for somewhere near HQ.

Also, this year for the first time, I'll be heading over to Punchestown Festival.

Always do Cheltenham and Aintree, but this year I'll be doing a 2013 Sprinter Sacre and doing all three

I'll report back with in depth comparison (if I can remember after the ale )

venue changing this year cufcno1 , i sent you a message with further details.

All roads after racing lead to the Queens :) always a few funny sights and stories late on that go down in the festival memory bank.
First stop after racing is the United services club , on right just as you've come down the hill, beer still at a decent price and a plate of scram .

57 sleeps

Hope you got a large wallet for the Queens
Was in their Saturday and a large red wine was
£8

A large red wine!!!!????


How much for a fkn Babycham then??

You can get a bet on the nite racing in the marquee if your an Arab and know some one from the rock

ttt for Joist.

Thanks, Makybe Diva! I'm sure there's another thread too, pre-dating this one. Would be good to see that one as well and rifle through for any gems that I might have missed at the time!

Found this thread from the horse racing forum...
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http://community.betfair.com/horse_racing/go/thread/view/94102/30423395/cheltenham-night-out?post_id=543218151#543218151

Just one question, I'm all for slightly higher prices for accommodation etc during summer holidays festivals and the likes but from someone who frequents hotels for work as I travel all around the country, how can u justify paying £2-400 a night during festival week for a effing travelodge express or equivalent  that I frequent generally for £30-50?

Crazy!!

Hotel Birmingham train £24 return job done!

And for the lads working in Cheltenham that week they have to travel cos even the local villages are piss taking too

I suppose you justify it as paying for the convenience of being in Cheltenham town centre during the Festival, rather than justifying the price with the quality of the accommodation!

You're right though, it is a joke. I've tried Gloucester (never again) and Tewkesbury (not too bad), but hard to beat the convenience of the town centre. Saying that, I'm only actually staying the Monday night this year and that's a bit more reasonably priced.

My mate has scored for betfair enclosure Tixall again for gold cup day and to take advantage of the free bar etc we've decided this time to travel Thurs night stay in brum and get train. Though he's there the weds as well with sporting life lol
Last time was 4 years ago and I drove from newcastle upon Tyne via Blackpool and back again that same day. Was a great day but couldn't do that again!

Brum hotel, up 7am, visit bookies by new Street station for the offers and pw, 920 train into chelt for 1020 to baldys for last ten mins of his pushes, breakfast walk to course first pint by noon! Happy days!