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With images of jubilant jockeys and celebrity-speckled crowds of smiling punters, Cheltenham Festival, the pinnacle of the national hunt racing calendar, draws in more than 200,000 racegoers to the Regency town on the edge of the Cotswolds each year.
But away from the thrill of the racecourse atmosphere, a darker side to the four-day festival has emerged in recent years. More women have come forward to report feeling unsafe because of harassment, leading many to avoid the town centre altogether.
Increasing reports of catcalling, grabbing, and women being followed home have even prompted the borough council to open a safe space for students and young people aged under 18 to “escape” unwanted attention from groups of men.
“I don’t know a woman who lives in Cheltenham who has not been targeted in some way during race week,” Jo Surma told The Independent.
The 40-year-old, who has lived in the town for 13 years, joined a group of women at the theatre in the town on Tuesday, not realising it was the opening day of the festival when booking.
“We’d usually go out for a drink afterwards, but coming out we saw the groups of drunken men and thought it wasn’t worth it,” she said. “I know it sounds really low-key, but it is the volume of large groups of drunken men who pretty much see any female as fair game.
“You just become an object in their eyes. You get men shouting at you in the street, you leave a bar and you are followed by a group of men, and you get jostled and grabbed while waiting for a drink. Unless you are bolshy or with a large group of women, there feels like no safe place in Cheltenham in the evening during race week. It’s a no-go area.”
Mrs Surma believes the opening of pop-up strip clubs in the town does not help the unpleasant atmosphere for women. The town has no permanent sexual entertainment venues – but on race week, two open after having licences renewed by the borough council.
A loophole in legislation – which allows temporary strip clubs to open in bars for 24 hours each month – means more open during the festival.
Mrs Surma said: “You have a situation where the men are very drunk, they are emotional because they have lost or won, they get their blood levels up paying for women, and then it spills out into the street.”
Alice, aged 23, who didn’t want to give her full name, is working at the racecourse this week. On Wednesday, as she walked through the town centre, a man heckled her, shouting, “You look dead professional, don’t you?”
“It makes you feel uncomfortable to have someone shout out like that about your appearance,” she said. “What I don’t understand is why men change their attitude to women when in a pack. It’s intimidating and I wouldn’t go out in the evening because of it.”
Another woman, who did not want to be named, said: “My experience is men in pubs and on the street trying to strike up conversations and making inappropriate comments and being aggressive when you don’t respond. I’ve had my path blocked by groups of young men on several occasions in the evening.”
The woman is among dozens who responded to a survey run by a group called GlosWomen in 2023 and last year. It found more than three-quarters of females did not feel safe in Cheltenham during race week, with 85 per cent avoiding the town centre.
More than half experienced sexual comments or catcalling, half said they had been stared at by men or been subject to suggestive looks, while a third had had unwanted physical contact.
During race week, the borough council said women’s safety was its top priority as it worked with police and racecourse owners The Jockey Club. Initiatives include venue inspections, door staff training and the “Ask for Angela” scheme, which allows vulnerable women to flag that they need help.
Two years ago, a “Love Our Turf” campaign was launched with stewards put in place to help clamp down on antisocial behaviour.
However, the council’s head of protection, Louis Krog said his task was becoming increasingly difficult, partly due to a change in the demographic of people arriving in the town centre from the racecourse, with more single men out in the evenings.
“The problem is we [Cheltenham] are not set up for it,” he told The Independent. “We have a 120,000 population, and we have 200,000 visitors [during race week]. The town is overwhelmed. The footprint in the town is so significant, and it does change the nature of it.
“Out at 2am in the morning [on Tuesday night], it feels a bit tense. It feels like a massive stag do. It is rowdy and there are a lot of drunk people. It’s a challenge we face.
“If the clientele changes that may change the atmosphere. Where we are at the moment is it being predominantly single males, some very drunk – it can feel intimidating for younger and single women.”
Mr Krog wants the government to review legislation to close the loophole on “pop-up” strip clubs, to help his team regulate premises. He said the council faced a balancing act between ensuring operators applied for licences and dealing with local opposition to the venues.
Gloucestershire Police said it was again targeting predatory behaviour every night of the festival in the town through teams of plain-clothed and uniformed officers. The force said tackling male violence and intimidation against women and girls was a priority.
In response to concerns around strip club licensing, a Home Office spokesperson said: “We have no plans to change the current law in this area, but we keep the licensing regime under regular review in line with our commitments to protect public safety and promote community development.”
Source: independent.co.uk
