ROYAL ASCOT
The latest major change to Royal Ascot was the opening of the Village Enclosure, which has been enhanced each year since it was first unveiled in 2019 to complement the Royal, Queen Anne and Windsor enclosures. The Village Enclosure is now used by around 10,000 visitors per day, and once the last horse has gone past the finish line, the area is transformed into an after-race party venue.
“ We offer a variety of experiences; the Royal Enclosure is the classic top hat and tails environment, the Queen Anne is for the hardcore racegoers, and the Windsor is a much more casual offering for a very relaxed day out,” says Thompson.“ We wanted a new enclosure offering a different atmosphere, so we created an area on the infield, on the other side of the track. The Village Enclosure has been developed significantly in recent years, with new venues, entertainment, and food & beverage offerings. It ' s probably more akin to a festival than a racegoers’ event.”
The Village Enclosure’ s evolution certainly appears to be hitting the right note, with a 13 % year-on-year increase in guests at the 2026 event, with 70 % of all guests in the 18-34 year-old age bracket.
For Thompson and the team the inclusion of the Village Enclosure, and continually taking a fresh look at all elements of Royal Ascot’ s presentation and delivery is key.“ We try to offer new experiences, new environments, new charitable engagements every year. Royal Ascot is a very traditional event with remarkable heritage, so we ' re not here to completely rip up the rule book but we understand that it ' s our responsibility to keep on adapting.“ There ' s more than 330 music performances throughout the week, and the food and beverage offering is world-renowned. We have over 32 Michelin stars for a variety of chefs on site. It ' s always about offering something different, and the event being right for absolutely everyone.”
Ascot commercial director Tom Johnson oversees all commercial functions across the business as well as Ascot ' s marketing operation. Central to his role working with commercial partners is finding a balance between embracing new ideas and activations with a respect for the permanent aspects of Royal Ascot that are synonymous with the event’ s prestige and heritage. Among the many commercial at Royal Ascot this year were Moët & Chandon, Chapel Down, Silent Pool, Whispering Angel and Schweppes.
“ The partnership programme is interesting because fundamentally Royal Ascot has a huge amount of heritage involved in it and it is important to remember that many of the aspects that make the event so special are the ones that haven’ t changed,” he says.
“ We work closely with partners and set clear guidelines as to what a brand experience should be. That’ s developed in partnership rather than unilaterally by either side, which is critical because as well as protecting the brand and protecting the event experience, there ' s also the audience flow to consider. It is such a big site, and there ' s so many different elements to experience, so we must make sure the right partner is activated in the right place for their audience.
“ We have three tiers of commercial partnership, from official partners through to official sponsors and then official suppliers; all of whom play key roles in bringing Royal Ascot to life. We make sure we work with partners who
Ben Keast
Neptunus ' Salacia structure in The Village
do it the right way. They are investing in that history and prestige when they work at Royal Ascot so are as much of a stakeholder in protecting it as we are.”
To bring that multi-faceted event offering to life each year, the team at Ascot Racecourse work with a cohort of some of the industry’ s leading suppliers to transform the site. Among them this year were Power Electrics and Visions Group working on power, GL Events delivering the grandstand, and Arena Group and Neptunus among the lead temporary structure providers.
Royal Ascot benefitted from several new structures this year. Making its UK event debut was Neptunus’ vast circular Salacia structure. Originally created as
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