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A mutli miilion pound hotel postponed, poor attendances and a debt of £62.5m, the future for Arena Leisure and Doncaster racecourse is not looking good.
After last years floods at Southwell and Worcester cost Arena a fortune now the news that Doncaster isn’t doing as well as it was prior to redevelopment.
I wonder if Arena can survive.
Not suprising really, after i went jumps racing i thought the experience was very disappointing on 3 counts:
1) parking ~ you used to be able to park opposite the entrance on a patch of land (parkland) .. now they send you bloody miles away past the four furlong marker
2) Cost ~ took up an offer of 2for 1 and went in members. Good seating area but at £28 a pop, not good vaule for money "in the north"
3) New stand ~ big but very soul less. The re development has lost the "rustic charm" of the old place but hasn’t built anything else in its place.
My local course is being developed by Arena. Demolition work has started ahead of building a 116 room 4* hotel and replacement golf course clubhouse. A project manager has been employed.
Arena have also closed a Leisure Centre they owned opposite the main entrance to the course. This is to be demolished and apartments and houses built. Bit of a shame for squash and gym members and other community groups such as schoolkids next door and kids from the local centre for young people with epilepsy who used the facilities.
Doubtless both ventures involve partners but it will be interesting how the hotel fares commercially and if and when the leisure centre is developed given several large local house builders have suspended building in the current financial climateIt was a stupid idea for the council of Doncaster to let Arena run the racecourse as it was lovley before the redevelopment.
As i have mentioned many times so i will do it again £16 was the old price on Great Yorkshire Chase day (THE Big Meeting for me at Donny) and it is now £28 so a mark up of 75% increase in the price.
The new stand is souless and was only built for the corporate sector.
The new parade ring is smaller and the old winners enclosure was a joy even though it was a long way from the stands but you got such a huge buzz running to it to see the winning horses.
I do hope Doncaster gets back in the black but admission prices need to comedown to get people in.
Totaly agree, with Donny being one of my local tracks, I used to go regulary before the rebuild. I can understand a certain increase for the feature meetings e.g. Ledger, Racing post trophy, Lincoln, Yorkshire Chase even November H’cap. but the run of the mill midweek and evening meeting have shot up in aswell.
Seems to me they need to get all those millions from somewhere.
Don’t know why, but every new grandstand / rebuild seems to be worse than the old one. In the south Newmarket, Ascot, even Newbury. Much prefer the old ones. May be it is due to the bias towards corporate hospitality. I am dreading Fontwell’s redevelopment. It currently has an atmosphere all of it’s own. Would not like that to be lost.
Mark
Value Is EverythingI am dreading Fontwell’s redevelopment. It currently has an atmosphere all of it’s own. Would not like that to be lost. Mark
Absolutely agree 100% and the artists impression I have seen does little to dispel my worries either
On the inside, the old Ascot grandstand was a dump. Horrible tacky bars and low ceilings everywhere
Old Newbury grandstand was quaint if you like dilpidated fire hazards. I like the new one.
The new Donny one is a bit cavernous but ok
On the inside, the old Ascot grandstand was a dump. Horrible tacky bars and low ceilings everywhere
Old Newbury grandstand was quaint if you like dilpidated fire hazards. I like the new one.
The new Donny one is a bit cavernous but ok
The new Ascot Grandstand certainly has very high ceilings. Go in the tatts part and you can see the roof !Total waste of space.
Newbury isn’t bad but the tatts grandstand could benefit from being bigger on feature days. The roof is not big enough, only the top few steps keep dry when it rains. Behind the stands could do with some work.
Mark
Value Is EverythingOn balance, I think the new Ascot is just slightly better than the old dump.
The main problem there, for me, is the cost.I went upstairs in in the Tote place once ( although it was out-of-bounds for me, apparently). The view was very good.
Normally, I make do with the Betting Ring, although, as I love to see the horses in the pre-parade ring, I’m just about done in, after an afternoon’s racing; back and fore, up and down all those hateful steps!
The clowns in the fancy dresses and undertaker’s suits just get in the way, imo.Still, that’s culture for you, I suppose.
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