Cheltenham's drinks prices under fire again £1-50 cheaper at snooker event last week, ripp off

By James Stevens, West Country correspondent racing post
UPDATED 1:47PM, JAN 25 2023
 
Cheltenham's drinks prices have come under fire again after it emerged the £7.50 charged for a pint of Guinness at race meetings was £1.50 more than at a snooker event held at the racecourse last week.

Pints were sold cheaper across the board at the World Grand Prix snooker, which was held in the Centaur building at the racecourse.

In defending the prices, Cheltenham said smaller events meant that catering costs were less. However, racegoers on Twitter were unimpressed, with one describing the situation as "racegoers blatantly being ripped off".

The Jockey Club said the price of a pint of Guinness would remain at £7.50 for the Cheltenham Festival in March.

A Jockey Club spokesperson said: "There are a lot more set-up costs with a major UK sporting event compared to a smaller and more locally resourced event. These costs are reflective of that. At the Jockey Club, any profits are reinvested into all aspects of British horseracing."

The disparity in prices drew a response on social media. "It's a joke, been going years for the week, [they're] pricing proper racegoers out of it for the young day-trippers," tweeted Duncan Murray.

"If it was freshly poured and made with care they could attempt to justify the price," added Maurice Macken on Twitter. "The fact they have agency staff pour them and sit them on the back counter for the half-hour between races is just as scandalous as the price."

Cheltenham charges the most for a pint of Guinness across all racecourses in Britain and Ireland
Cheltenham charges the most for a pint of Guinness across all racecourses in Britain and Ireland
Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)
An all-day ticket to watch the snooker ranged from £29 during the early stages of the event to £65 for the final. Advance tickets for Cheltenham's Trials day on Saturday range from £12 to £26. Tickets for the Cheltenham Festival, which starts on Tuesday, March 14, are priced between £50 and £103 on the first three days, rising again for Gold Cup day.

The Centaur hosts comedy, music and sporting events throughout the year and has a maximum capacity of 2,250.

The £7.50 pint at Cheltenham topped the standings for the highest charge for a pint of Guinness across all racecourses in Britain and Ireland in the Racing Post's Racecourse Prices Index. The charge was 50p more than second-placed Epsom.

In 2020, it was estimated that 265,000 pints of Guinness were drunk during the Cheltenham Festival.

Meanwhile, one of the town's councillors has launched a campaign to paint all walls leading to the racecourse with splash-back paint to deter urination from racegoers.

Liberal Democrat Max Wilkinson launched his "war on wee" petition last week to combat anti-social behaviour during festival week.

Yet Cheltenham have already begun to address issues raised from last year's meeting with the launch of a 'Love Our Turf' campaign, which was trialled at the November meeting.

The initiative, which was sparked off the back of complaints from local residents, includes the placing of additional toilets and more marshals on the roads leading out of the racecourse.

There were no reported incidents at the three-day November meeting and the first effort was hailed as a success by local MP Alex Chalk and the chief inspector for Gloucestershire Police.