Supply and demand: Chester supremo Richard Thomas hits back at pricing criticism

Chester has staunchly defended its admission pricing system in the light of comparisons between what is being charged at the course compared to other meetings on Saturday.

In his Monday column the Racing Post's Lee Mottershead suggested some of the prices for Saturday's fixture on the Roodee "appear a tad steep", with £42 being the cost for a ticket into Tattersalls.

Read Lee's Monday column here

At Newmarket it is £31 for the Grandstand and Paddock enclosure, £30 for the Queen Anne enclosure at Ascot and £26 at York for the Grandstand enclosure.

It was also suggested the fare at the other three venues appears superior to what Chester is offering as the high-point on its card is a Listed contest while Newmarket and Ascot feature Group 1 and 2 races while York stages the £200,000 John Smith’s Diamond Jubilee Cup.

Watching the races from the city walls at ChesterCredit: Edward Whitaker

'It's about supply and demand'

However, Chester’s chief executive Richard Thomas was quick to defend all pricing policies for the course’s enclosures and suggested plucking one day out of the entire summer calendar and making comparisons could prove misleading.

He said: "It’s about supply and demand and generally all of our top priced enclosures are the first to sell out. Compared to the likes of Ascot and York we have much more limited space and capacity in all our enclosures with the top priced Winning Post enclosure at £95 holding only 300 seated racegoers and the Long Room for which the price is £70 with a capacity for 1,200 customers.

“We want to remain a successful racecourse over the coming years and seasons and that means making the raceday experience as enjoyable as possible for our patrons and we have already spent £4 million in improving our facilities for the paying public, who rightly expect newer and better things at the racecourse. But we are running a business and that money has to come from somewhere.”

Planning application

Thomas was also quick to point out spending more on improving facilities was at the forefront of the company’s priorities in the near future and added: “We have an application which is due to be heard by Cheshire West and Chester Council in August regarding plans to spend another £100m on more improvements throughout the racecourse so as to make it as customer friendly as possible

“Some people seem to forget that the raceday experience at Chester is unique and not all about being at the racecourse as the day usually starts at 11 in the morning in the town centre before a short few minutes walk and an afternoon at the racecourse before many racegoers end up back in the town until 11 at night.”

He added: “We are lucky in as much as we are so close to the town centre and we cater specifically for an audience who are essentially north west sporting fans who love their football and rugby league as well as a great afternoon at the races. They, quite rightly in my opinion, have expectations about the facilities we as a racecourse provide throughout our spring, summer and autumn season.”

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