Keeping Cheltenham safe and running smoothly during race week

Cheltenham Borough Council, Gloucestershire Constabulary, SOLACE, Gloucestershire County Council and other agencies will be working in partnership again this year to ensure Cheltenham is kept safe and running smoothly during The Cheltenham Festival™, 10 – 13 March.  With 60,000 people expected in town on each of the four days this is no small task. With this in mind please be aware of the following…

Road closures for The Festival™

To ensure traffic flows smoothly in and around Cheltenham, the borough council will be working closely with the county council’s highways team. Traffic orders will be in place as previous years and full details about the traffic changes have been published.

A summary can be found below from the Cheltenham Jockey Club...

Evesham Road (A435) will be closed in a southbound direction, for local road users, between approximately 10.30 and 13.30. The road will then be closed again between 16.30 - 19.30.  This will allow cars to enter the course but not allow non-race day traffic travelling south to Cheltenham. Other routes will be signposted accordingly.

The closure will come into place at the crossroads between Evesham Road, Southam Lane and Hyde Lane. Cars and vans not attending the racing, but using the local roads, will be asked to use Hyde Lane towards Swindon Village and Cheltenham, vehicles over 3.9m (12'9") will turn left down Southam Lane and travel via Prestbury.

It is advised that anyone coming from the Tewkesbury and Evesham area use the M5 Southbound from Junction 9 to Junction 10.

Coronavirus and the impact on The Festival™

Cheltenham Racecourse is in regular contact with agencies including Public Health England, Gloucestershire County Council, Public Health, NHS, Cheltenham Borough Council and the local resilience forum. It is recommended you follow the advice published by PHE and Government.

If you have a query about the impact of the Coronavirus on The Festival please contact The Jockey Club.

Toilets

Additional toilets for race goers in Cheltenham town centre will be in place on Evesham Road and New Barn Lane.

Licensed vehicles

It is recommended visitors use Cheltenham licensed taxies during The Festival. Please be aware that licensing officers will be working with officers from South Gloucestershire Council to inspect licensed vehicles and ensure that any non licensed taxies are dealt with. 

Unwanted behaviour

The vast majority of people visiting Cheltenham next week will be doing so to have a good time.  If you do however experience any unwanted behaviour please do report it to the police by calling 101 as recommended by Superintendent Paul Dutton –

“I am really looking forward to another festival week, we know that the vast majority of people visiting Cheltenham for The Festival have a great time and enjoy themselves responsibly. We have been working closely with Cheltenham Racecourse and Cheltenham Borough Council to ensure local residents and racegoers are kept safe during festival week. Officers will be taking part in a number of patrols around both the racecourse and wider town centre and would encourage anyone with concerns to report this by speaking to a member of the team or calling 101.”

For further information please visit Cheltenham Borough Council.