Old And New

This is The Bayshill pub, at the edge of the town centre, with a new shiny office block in the background, on what used to St James' railway station. The train station shut many years ago and for a long time was a car park, before the Council sold the land for building. Now the area is occupied by office blocks, flats and a supermarket. Now that's what you call an original use of waste land!

Cheltenham-On-Sea

These houses on Queens Road, near the train station, wouldn't look out of place in a seaside town. Most of the houses in and around Cheltenham are painted white or cream, so these colourful homes are a welcome change to the norm.

I hope you are all enjoying your Easter weekend. Tomorrow its chocolate time!

Outlandish Advertising

As I said yesterday, everyone is promoting or selling something in Cheltenham this race week. The Festival is a big money spinner and the pub above must have got something in return for sponsorship like this. The Midland Hotel (which is a pub not a hotel) is situated by the train station and has been renamed The Betfair Arms for the week. Betfair is an online betting company and all these sort of businesses make huge amounts of money, so paying out for a bit of advertising is just a drop in the ocean to them. Even the footbridge (shown below) across the tracks in the train station has been used for advertising this week. As soon as racegoers get off the train they know what its all about - Money.

Now its time for Marley's Daily Top Tip - Master Minded in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at 3.15pm. If you followed my tip yesterday then I apologise. Sizing Europe pulled up in the home straight and came in practically last! Better luck today!

UPDATE...
...Today's racing has been cancelled due to the high winds and the worry that the tented village might take off!!