Inside the battle against drunken disorder during Cheltenham Festival – and how police are winning

Independent

14-03-2025

It's gone 10.30pm, more than four hours since Daily Present snatched victory in the final race of St Patrick's Day at Cheltenham Festival, and the pubs in the town centre are alive with drunken revelry.
Along a pedestrianised strip squeezed between two packed bars, inebriated punters jostle in the cold as Irish music is blasted out when suddenly a scuffle breaks out.
Punches are thrown and two men are bundled out of Copa bar in front of passing police officers before one decides to make a quick getaway, fleeing on foot and appearing to get away from a chasing policeman.
But thanks to police radio and a CCTV operative, a swarm of officers quickly arrest the young man on suspicion of assault just a few hundred yards away.
It's Thursday, the third night of festival race week, and the force is prepared with a night-time economy operation including 35 officers spread across foot patrols and three van units. They are joined by more officers specifically targeting sexual offences, a horseback team and "special ops" units in unmarked vehicles.
"Festival week brings in more people into the town, some of whom have drunk too much, and that brings a rise in incidents - we are here to deal with the antisocial behaviour and ensure others can have an enjoyable night," Inspector Ross Fideo tells The Independent.
Earlier, shortly after 8pm, inside Cheltenham's police station, Insp Fideo briefs his team on the night ahead before sending them out with radios connected to the door staff working at the dozens of busy drinking venues.
In one police van, the first report is a pair of men fighting bar workers and using fake notes. It's followed by an alert over a pair on bikes offering drugs, and then there is a call-out over a drunk man in the street being restrained.
The vehicle unit is then called to assist pub staff with a scuffle involving three men - but on arrival, officers encounter an apparent different situation, with a member of the door staff arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm after a man is found with a broken arm outside.
"Our CCTV team told us what happened, and we were able to make an arrest," says PC Laurie Merchant.
At 10pm, at a meeting held inside a town centre shopping centre, Insp Fideo updates members of the borough council licencing team, business owners and street pastors on a busy night, urging the teams to work together closely on the Street Safe Radio.
Council licencing officers say private hire taxis have been caught plying for customers illegally while the pastors report on the volume of drunk people in the town centre.
It's clearly a team effort across multiple agencies, and one that appears to be making a difference.
'We have a really good operation where we are working together to stop antisocial behaviour that could impact people's enjoyment and business,' says Richard Bryant, treasurer at United Services Social Club.
The club will make as much money on Friday's Gold Cup day as it would across three weeks. 'It's important for such an important time that people feel safe,' Mr Bryant says.
The fight against antisocial behaviour is not just taking place in the town centre.
Back in 2022, a picture of a group of men urinating in a park next to the mile-long walkway from the town to the racecourse caused outrage locally and led to a 'war on wee' campaign by the borough council.
The initiative featured hydrophobic paint being rolled onto walls to provide 'splash back' for anyone urinating, with publicity on it raising awareness of the issue.
Two years ago, racecourse owners The Jockey Club launched a project called Love our Turf that sees dozens of volunteers in high visibility vests acting as stewards to 'promote positive behaviour' outside.
And the schemes appear to be working.
Walking from the racecourse to the town centre, there is only a community feel with dozens of children lining the walkway with stalls selling cakes and chocolates, only separated by musicians and food kiosks.
'At one point it was out of control, we had men urinated on people's front lawns and all across the park,' says local councillor Julian Fooke. 'But the Jockey Club has responded with more stewards and the council campaign has made a difference.
'What I don't want is for complacency to creep in - it's important we stay on top of it.'
Cheltenham MP Max Wilkinson says it would be easy to assume from some of the negative media coverage that race week was not a good thing for Cheltenham.
'But where it brings many challenges, it also brings in a lot of spending to local businesses which in these difficult times is a big positive for our area,' he tells The Independent.
'It is also important to note that the work done by the Jockey Club, local councils, police and others does seem to be making a big difference and reducing some of those problems we have seen over the past few years.'