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I worked for Ladbrokes as a part-time deputy manager for about seven/eight years. At one point the powers that be decided there would be no single manning "under any circumstances". I think there had been a series of hold-ups, particularly in remote shops.
This rule was later amended so that staff could "voluntarily" single man, which meant they would be asked to single man if somebody went sick late on, etc.
Gradually single manning has become the norm. I use Ladbrokes, although its not my first choice, and am still in touch with some of the staff I used to work with. Now shops are staffed by more than one person only at their busiest times, and opening times have been extended on Sundays, in some shops if not all.
I can’t make out at which point it became ok for shops to single man after the decision was made that there would never be any single manning?
Certainly agree that the company is putting profit before staff welfare.£10 returns £34, so it’s between 9/4 and 5/2.
I have seen bookmakers using odds of 11/5, 12/5 etc, on racecourses for a couple of years now, but have rarely seen them returned as an SP. I suppose it gives bookies a bit more to play with and is supposed to make it simpler for the uninitiated betting in fivers.
I’m a new member on the forum and this is my first post, but seeing as they’ve delayed the date for the announcement of which fixtures are to be cut, I guess this is still relevant.
I’m currently on a mission to visit all the tracks in Britain and am on 43 (44 if you count 2 Newmarket) so from a selfish point of view, don’t want to see any tracks close. I did miss out on Great Leighs though.
I also think that there are people who love racing who get as much enjoyment from watching racing at Plumpton or Folkestone as do people watching Royal Ascot or the Cheltenham festival. I would suggest that many of the people who attend these bigger meetings and summer Saturdays at Newmarket and York probably don’t even know whether they’re watching champion racehorses or sellers, and don’t really care. And isn’t the diversity of courses and races in Britain part of what makes the sport so fascinating?
What gets me about the fixture list is that there are days in the calendar when there will be all-weather racing at Lingfield and Kempton on the same day, sometimes in the summer! Or one of these meetings will clash with somewhere like Goodwood or Folkstone. Surely attendances are affected? I guess Kempton, Wolverhampton and Southwell are given all-weather summer meetings as recompense for staging racing throughout the winter for a few diehards and the benefit of the betting shops.
If every course sacrificed one meeting, that would be 60 meetings lost at a stroke – although I appreciate places like Cartmel, Perth and summer jumps courses have less room for manouevre than others – and then cut some of the summer all-weather meetings, or even all-weather meetings in the winter when 2 fall on the same day.
