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Newbury's controversial Great Christmas Carnival put a £670,000 dent in the racecourse's profits, according to preliminary results for 2022 released on Wednesday.
The racecourse had warned in January the carnival, a joint venture with events company Underbelly, had not been a success and would result in a "material loss".
The carnival ran between November 25 and January 2 and was unpopular with racegoers as it obscured part of the back straight, including races in the prestigious Coral Gold Cup fixture.
In its results announcement Newbury said of the carnival: "This was expected to create an important new revenue stream and broaden the business base beyond racing, but due to a number of factors, the event was not as well attended as Underbelly expected and has resulted in a material loss of 670,000 to the company."
The racecourse had warned in January the carnival, a joint venture with events company Underbelly, had not been a success and would result in a "material loss".
The carnival ran between November 25 and January 2 and was unpopular with racegoers as it obscured part of the back straight, including races in the prestigious Coral Gold Cup fixture.
In its results announcement Newbury said of the carnival: "This was expected to create an important new revenue stream and broaden the business base beyond racing, but due to a number of factors, the event was not as well attended as Underbelly expected and has resulted in a material loss of 670,000 to the company."
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So has anyone at Newbury that thought "this was expected to create an important new revenue stream" had a pay cut or been sacked ?
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Perhaps they should sell more houses
Or Lady Webber ( 10% shareholder) put some munie in Or director Jim McGrath help out as well!!!  |
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I don't think the Racing Industry have a clue about running businesses and perhaps should concentrate on learning the one they're already involved with.
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How on earth ...
Did they think that a - 39-day 'Carnival' - in the middle of a Winter Household Energy Crisis, accompanied by the Cost of Living Crisis - was going to - "create an important new revenue stream" ? Obviously, the type of people who made this decision - are the kind of people that both the Energy Crisis and Cost of Living Crisis has barely made a ruffle within their comfortable world. |
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So they lost £670 K then plus the revenue they did take .So where looking to get 3/4 million plus before making a profit. Thats a helluva lot of candy floss & fairground rides. Absolutely mental.
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On the picture it looks about as attractive as the dystopian one Banksy created at the seaside.
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It was exactly that, howard. A deserted installation far away in the middle of the track, with no obvious way of accessing it even if anyone wanted to.
As a general rule, though, I think most people would think twice before investing the thick end of a million quid with a company called Underbelly. |
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They may have thought the people from the new houses would be regulars
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howard ...i'm not sure anyone lives in those houses . whenever the racing is on there is never, ever anyone out on the balcony .and i do know that the ones with such a view were not cheap to buy .
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Very surprised that they didn't partner with Underbelly and take a cut of the revenue rather than taking on the risk..... Are they connected in anyway..?
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Underbelly companies accounts show a large loss for the year
Registered in Hatton Garden Diamonds eh |
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Why not just charge Underbelly a fee for use of the land. If you go cut of the revenue im sure underbelly would undercook the books.
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even if they undercooked the books, you wouldn't stand to make a loss... a % of a cooked GWP figure doesn't result in a 670k loss.
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The whole thing has the look and smell of one of those deserted High Street sweet shops.
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You simply could not make it up...?
If I may call them gypsies...they run the best funfairs... Wouldnt you be able to charge them instead? Absolute farce. |
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30 days at a loss of 20k a day.
Given they own the land,parking,facilities etc.how is this possible. A travelling gypsie fair would have rocked up for nowt.so there is literally no overheads. 50 staff on minimum wage would cost 150k. It takes some doing. But no doubt the head of business development will get his bonus,as I ve heard he’s booked Peter Andre for 16 concerts this summer at a knock down 800k,so he’s confident they’ll re coup losses |
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looked grim af, was Papa Lazarou running the show?
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Underbelly been invovled with
Cirque circus Their pretty expensive  |
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newcastles had a similar thing last few yrs 'winter wonderland' i can recall 2021 ewe needed waders as it was a ft of mud all around the circuit.
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So basically. Newbury board meeting.
Let’s generate some cash from the course, Why not have a Christmas wonderland. We ve no idea how to do this Let’s pay a company to do it for us Great idea. They ve already cancelled this years idea,they wanted an on-site brewery so punters could get drunk,but they couldn’t organise it. |
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we are , probably rightly , laughing at the idiotic ideas at newbury . but , worryingly, it is a lovely course . trains next door . great history ; greenham, hennessy, etc . good facilities . what on earth has gone on to reduce them to this shambles ?
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Don’t worry. There’ll be a press release in a few weeks.
Newbury is committed to its core product of racing,and the board have decided to concentrate on delivering value to its loyal customer base. |
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I don't think the Racing Industry have a clue about running businesses and perhaps should concentrate on learning the one they're already involved with.
'nrc' has been a business (now a town, people do live in most of the flats!) with a racecourse attached for getting on 20 years now. |
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'nrc' has been a business (now a town, people do live in most of the flats!) with a racecourse attached for getting on 20 years now.
Successfully?? |
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Did anyone on Newbury Racecourse Board have any Connection/relationship with Underbelly Carnival company ??
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Not just the 670k loss but many punters won't go in future years because of their appalling experience last year
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there is only one set of folk who will pay for the 670k loss in the near future...
the mug public who go there... entry price increase... food price increase... beer price increase... oh yes. |
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@screaming
"I think most people would think twice before investing the thick end of a million quid with a company called Underbelly." Just on the same basis that daytrip punters pick horses with names they like? Underbelly are a big name in the events scene - they have been running festivals and the like for twentyish years. |
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Build houses
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Successfully??
The point being that the people who run it are no longer 'racing people' and haven't been for years. |
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i think Underbelly does the Hogmanay thingy in Edinburgh ?
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Even if Underbelly are a successful event organiser, or they could be complete rouges, how do you loose 670k effectively renting out a bit of land to them to do a themed fairground?
Timberman @ 8:45 asked the correct question... there must be a link somewhere that connects |
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Well sh*t
Imagine being robbed by Zippo and his hoodlums. |
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"how do you lose 670k effectively renting out a bit of land to them to do a themed fairground?"
because, I imagine, you were greedier than that, and rather than renting them the space to run their own event, you paid them to run one for you so you could keep all the profits you imagined would be coming in? |
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If they admit to loosing 670k on this, what else happened(s) that they are not owning up to???
Beggars belief, it really does. |
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Underbelly are a big name in the events scene - they have been running festivals and the like for twentyish years.
No doubt, longbridge. And as long as there are mugs like Newbury racecourse around to pay the expenses and absorb the losses, they'll continue to do so. |
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