WITH flower box-lined streets and luscious greenery in nearly every direction, Ascot is a picture-postcard British town.
But today its residents will be bracing themselves for bedlam when an estimated 300,000 racegoers descend for Royal Ascot.
Noise problems infuriate some residents on this street in Ascot
Postie Frank Zecca, 62, says he has ‘a good laugh’ at drunk racegoers
The famous horse racing event, attended by celebrities and royalty, brings considerable wealth to the area – but locals say they pay for it in other ways.
When SE visits, residents tell us they’ve endured “p****d-up” revellers urinating on their properties, defecating on doorsteps, and brazenly snorting cocaine off walls.
Others complain the issues stretch beyond the five days of the event, claiming the noise of preparing the venue goes on for weeks and litter left behind afterwards attracts vermin.
While some dismiss drunken behaviour as “part of the fun”, others paint a more troubling picture, claiming it leads to yobs brawling in the street.
One local who did not wish to be named tells us: “Friday is the worst day because you get gangs from Reading, London and all over the place coming in to fight.
“Apparently it’s something that’s been going on for at least 50 to 60 years. There are these stupid fights and then you get groups of [travellers] who beat people up too.
“Police pray for rain because that’s the only thing that stops them. Four or five years ago they expected really bad trouble and were relieved when the heavens opened at six o’clock.”
The Ascot resident says the area has an issue with travellers leading up to the racing event, claiming they “look out for drunken faces to pickpocket”.
Residents who live on this street, which is 500ft from the racecourse, say people used to urinate in their gardens
A fight breaks out at Royal Ascot in 2011
He adds: “They take over the car park of a big supermarket in Slough. The store tries to keep them at one end until they can get rid of them.
“Sometimes it doesn’t work though and once they stormed the supermarket. There were about 50 travellers who went in and stole everything they could.”
The locals worst affected appear to be those who live closest to the entrances to the race course enclosures.
Just 500ft away from the venue is Course Road, a pretty street with homes that date back to 1877.
In previous years this stretch – which is now closed-off during race week – used to be targetted by drunk attendees, but now resident Frank Zecca, 62, says it’s “greatly improved”.
He tells us: “You get troublemakers but you get that at every event, and it’s much better than it used to be. This year we are expecting big problems from [animal rights] protestors.”
The postman, who’s lived in the area for 35 years, says the road being closed off was a turning point after years of trouble.
“They used to come into people’s gardens to urinate and one day, a guy came home to find something on his doorstep, which someone had left for him,” Frank says with a chuckle.
He believes the main problem now is traffic and taxis clogging up the high street, claiming in previous years it took him up to five hours to get home.
Overall Frank believes Royal Ascot “brings a nice buzz” to the area and insists locals “don’t mind” because it’s over in less than a week.
He adds: “We don’t mind, we go out and people watch – everyone does it from our road. We have a good laugh seeing a few drunken people falling over.”
Drunken revellers soaking up the sun during Royal Ascot back in 2015
The residents say they often gather to laugh at the drunken revellers
‘Complete chaos’
But not everyone sees the funny side. One resident from the neighbouring road, who didn’t wish to be named, fearing retribution, describes the event as “complete chaos”.
She tells us: “The noise on the Friday night is amazing, I have to move into my son’s bedroom, which is the back room, to escape from it.
“Royal Ascot is hell. There are only about 15 of us who are up against the racecourse and most people move out so they don’t have to deal with it all.
“The clientele that comes to this end of the course aren’t paying for the posh bits.
“They are normally in their thirties and are very lairy and loud. They screech, occasionally sing and are normally very p****d.
“There are crowds of drunk, dolled-up people in the shortest skirts, and by the time they get here they need a wee and end up peeing in the bushes.
“I’ve torn a strip off people twice for peeing in the bushes outside my house and my neighbour saw someone do a line of cocaine outside theirs.
“Saturday night is one of the worst because they are all over the main high road. It’s like being outside a football stadium. It’s interesting, to say the least.”
Rat problem
Some of the litter left after Ascot races
But the resident, who’s lived metres away from the racecourse for two years, says her biggest annoyance is the noise from workers preparing the venue.
She says: “It goes on for months. It normally starts from around five or six in the morning and finishes around 11 at night.
“Very early in the morning you hear catering guys chatting really noisily as they walk in, trucks going up and down making a racket and ‘clank, clank, clank’ from all of the construction.”
Another problem is litter, which she says has become such a problem that the council “sends the rat man” every couple of weeks.
“We’ve got rat traps in the house and three of us on the street have had to call in the exterminators,” she says.
“During Ascot week you see rats running back and forth from the racecourse because of all the food and litter there.”
Another local from the street vents about the litter and believes event organisers should make more effort to clean up the alcohol cans, bottles and plastic bags left behind.
She says the picturesque street, which is lined with large planters with olive trees, is regularly at risk because “no one comes out to repair damage to plants”.
‘Boring old farts’
Pamela Bunn jokingly calls event naysayers ‘boring old farts’
It’s not all doom and gloom – Pamela Bunn, a resident of 46 years, says Royal Ascot is “brilliant” and “one big party”.
“There’s no point living here if you’re not going to go with it, it’s just a bit of fun,” she tells us.
The 80-year-old retired British Airways worker hosts parties to make the most of the spectacle and brands anyone with issues “boring old farts”.
Pamela admits there are a few revellers who “do naughty things in people’s gardens” and has had part of her property damaged in the past.
“You used to see people dressed smartly to attend but now you’ll see things like a man wheeling his wife home in a shopping trolley with her legs in the air,” she says.
“Once I had to have my fence replaced because someone drunkenly fell into it, but the Ascot team were brilliant, they came out the next day and sorted it.”
‘Lots of drunks’
Co-workers Angela Web 41, and Steph Ramsden, 24, love the ‘buzz’ brought to Ascot thanks to the races
One man falls from his chair during the Royal Ascot races
Lifelong resident Angela Webb, 41, says while the town gets very busy, she loves “lively, colourful” Royal Ascot.
She’s only attended the event once – for her 21st birthday – and admits she joined the legions of ladies who ended the night barefoot after taking off their heels.
“There’s lots of drunk and merry people but it’s mostly nice,” Angela tells us.
“You have to watch out while you’re driving because there’s a lot of drunk people and you have to dodge them.
“Of course there’s the odd person causing trouble but I’ve never heard of it getting violent.”
She says the area benefits massively from the event, which sees 70,000 attend Ladies’ Day, officially known as Gold Cup Day.
Admin worker Angela adds: “The restaurant down the road makes the same amount of money it does in the whole year during Ascot Week.”
Her colleague Steph Ramsden, 24, is bracing herself for her first time working in the area while the races are on.
She says: “I don’t know what to expect but I know it will be really, really busy. Thankfully we’re able to work from home and work flexible hours to avoid the traffic.”
‘Crazy but worth it’
Hugh Barnard, 60, recalls some amusing sights of drunken revellers
Traffic is a recurring issue for residents but retiree Hugh Barnard, 60, who’s lived there for 25 years, says it’s considerably better than it used to be.
He tells us: “They have organised this lovely one-way system, which helps because residential roads are closed off.
“Four years ago some guys parked in front of my house, which I could live with until I came home at 6.30pm to see him and his mate peeing against the wall.
“It’s those sorts of things that you don’t appreciate but overall the system is pretty good. Of course, a bollard isn’t going to stop people urinating but it stops our cars getting blocked in.
“We can get in and out early in the morning and mid-afternoon and then you have to leave anything else until late at night.”
Hugh tends to dodge the Royal Ascot crowds and is thankful to live far enough away to “avoid most of the abject behaviour”.
He recalls: “The beautiful ladies who were all done up to the nines at 10:30am are in flip-flops and don’t care anymore by 7:30pm.
“They are all stumbling across the streets and I must admit the locals tend to avoid coming here for those particular times.
“It’s a bit crazy but it’s worth it to live here.”
Locals say partying gets out of hand and the noise is excessive
