Cheltenham Racecourse today announced a series of changes aimed squarely at improving the fan experience.
With attendances and feedback dropping after the post-COVID highs of 2022, the Jockey Club is clearly looking to sweep away some of the grumbles and make race-going more enjoyable, especially during the big Festival week.
Two headline changes stand out: the price of a pint of Guinness has been cut by 30p back to what it cost in 2022, and capacity at the Festival will be reduced yet again.
Both moves send a message, Cheltenham is listening to feedback, but is this anywhere near enough?
Cheltenham Guinness Price, Capacity and More Comfort
First, the Guinness. It may seem small, but for many punters it’s symbolic. Cheltenham is reverting the price of a pint of Guinness from £7.80 to £7.50, matching its 2022 cost.
The cut of 30p across all 16 racedays isn’t just about drinks, it’s about perception and value. Every year, the prices of drinks at Cheltenham are among the most talked about elements, away from the track, on social media.
Cheltenham CEO Guy Lavender said: “The price of a pint of Guinness is a peculiarly emotive issue for many people, it was quite clear that this was something people cared about.”
🚨 CONFIRMED: The price of a pint of Guinness at the 2026 Cheltenham Festival has been reduced by 30p to £7.50 https://t.co/6IKO6ZxypB pic.twitter.com/hBZTeeGUVu
— Racing Post (@RacingPost) September 23, 2025
Secondly, capacity, and this is solely focusing on the Festival only, not the rest of the season. For the 2026 Festival, crowd numbers per day will be reduced from 68,500 to 66,000.
That’s down 2,500, not a massive cut in percentage terms, but enough to ease congestion, reduce queues, and generally make the experience more comfortable for those arriving, walking between enclosures, or leaving.
It follows feedback from racegoers who have complained that certain areas felt way too crowded during peak moments in recent festivals.
The cynical side of me wonders whether this particular change would have happened had the Festival sold out for the past few years. Based on last year’s numbers, only the Gold Cup Friday is in danger of selling fewer tickets than last year, due to the attendance cap stopping people from coming in.
Cheltenham is also refurbishing bars, upgrading the PA system, improving racecourse TV screens, offering more drink zones, and creating more undercover food courts in the tented village.
Other minor tweaks include the removal of remaining drinks restrictions in the Club enclosure (so people can move more freely with their drinks), and “Room to Race,” the accommodation assistance scheme in partnership with Venatour, this is being expanded to offer more affordable lodging during festival week.
Why These Moves Matter
Cheltenham isn’t making cosmetic changes. There are severe pressures to improve. Festival attendance in 2025 dropped significantly from its 2022 peak of about 280,600 down to 218,839, which is the lowest this decade.
The post-COVID-2022 boom gave bigger-than-usual numbers, so we cannot compare directly with that year, but there has been a year-on-year decline since.
Issues such as overall price (including tickets, accommodation, food & drink), overcrowding, and limited comfort have been repeatedly flagged by racegoers. It’s no longer enough to have top-class racing. If Cheltenham wants to flourish, it has to offer more.
Guy Lavender, who became CEO in January, seems to understand this. As he put it:
“Value for money is one of the most important factors for people to consider when deciding which events to attend. Rather than putting their prices up, I felt we should reduce those prices and carry those costs ourselves.”
Will It Be Enough?
Here’s where opinion comes into play. Reducing capacity and cutting drink prices are reasonable first steps, but is this really going to cut through?
For many who stayed away, the barrier is accommodation, transport and then the cost of drinks inside. A reduced pint price of 30p per drink means nothing when it’s compared to a four-figure accommodation bill, split between a party.
I like the idea of cutting the capacity, but to make any meaningful difference, it would have to be a cut of 10,000, which is simply not going to happen.
On the first three days last year, the attendance was below the newly created attendance cap for 2026; only the Gold Cup could see fewer people attend this year due to the cap.
I believe Cheltenham’s latest announcement is a step in the right direction. To me, this all shows that the leadership is willing to act, not just talk. They’re signalling to racegoers that Cheltenham wants to earn them back, which is a starting point.
But these changes are only a small part of the solution. To reverse the downward trend in attendance, Cheltenham would have to take action affecting costs outside of their control, which they cannot do.
Does 30p less per pint make me want to go more? Not really. Would halving my accommodation costs make me want to go more? It certainly would.
The answer to the problem is something that Cheltenham racecourse cannot control, and this is precisely why I don’t think we’ll ever get the Festival back to the good old days.