Who doesn’t like the Cheltenham Festival? Arguably the highlight of any horse racing enthusiast’s calendar.

We’ve seen so much amazing action over the years. History has been made. There have been shocks and upsets and numerous changes over the years.

However, in light of complaints from many spectators who attend the legendary festival, there are some changes coming for next year’s edition.

Reduction In The Price Of Pints

As I’m sure many of you will agree, attending the festival – especially every day, can add up to a lot, when you factor in accommodation, food and drink, then you have to factor in your betting activity as well.

In what I’m certain will be good news to many though, the price of pints will be reduced by 30p This is for draught beer and cider. As such, next year you will be expected to pay £7.50 for a pint – still expensive, though I’m sure that it will help.

✨ Cheltenham Festival 2026 is getting a makeover ✨

Here’s what’s new ⬇️

Guinness down 30p – £7.50 a pint (same as 2022)
Smaller crowds: max 66,000 per day
No more booze restrictions – you can watch the races trackside with your pint!
Ticket prices frozen,… https://t.co/6IKO6ZxypB pic.twitter.com/ZLh1H3YWJG

— Racing Post (@RacingPost) September 23, 2025

“We regularly benchmark our food and beverage prices alongside other major sports venues and comparable events,” said course chief executive Guy Lavender.
“Despite being subject to the same increases in goods and services as all industries, we have taken the decision to reduce the price of draught beers and cider… for the 2025/26 season.”

While, in the grand scheme of things, this reduction isn’t huge, when you consider that most race-goers have around 10 pints throughout the course of a meeting, it is still a considerable saving of £3.00 which will no doubt help.

Capacity Of The Meeting Also Reduced Among Other Changes

Furthermore, for this year, at least, the permitted attendance will be reduced from 68,500 to 66,000 – still a notable capacity for an event that is one of the most attended in the horse racing calendar.
Ironically, this could also help a lot with the time it takes to queue at the bars for drinks, so you are not only paying less, you might also have less time to wait.

There are other changes that are understood to be implemented. Cheltenham organisers have said that it will return to the promotion of the second day (Wednesday), from ‘Style Wednesday’ to ‘Ladies Day’ for the first time since 2019.

As well as this, the organisers will also be introducing a ‘Room To Race’ scheme, which is based on offering accommodation at more reasonable rates for those wanting to attend the event – again which could be a major saving for those attending all week.

Perhaps importantly for the more dedicated punters, the PA system will have an overhaul, so that everyone can clearly hear what is going on in races, allowing them to keep an eye on their selections and even place bets in-race for those on a mobile betting app.

It will be interesting to see how these changes are received by the public, though I certainly think they will be greeted with enthusiasm.