Festival will be friendly to euro The euro will not be accepted in the racecourse bars and restaurants at Cheltenham next week but the town itself is determined to be 'euro friendly.'A spokesperson for the Cheltenham tourist office said yesterday: 'Lots of hotels and bed and breakfasts in the town will be taking euros and we are trying to encourage everyone in Cheltenham to be euro friendly.'Exchanging euro for sterling will be a widespread issue next week but there is overall confidence that any problems will be minor.'My own feeling is that the majority of the bars will use sterling only but it`s just a question of covering one euro for 60 pence,' said the manager of the Cotswold Grange Hotel, Paul Weaver. 'It will be the same as we used to do with the punt.' A racecourse offical, Peter McNeile, confirmed the euro won`t be accepted on track but it is expected to have a minimal impact. 'The three days will be sold out by Monday so there will be no cash at the gate anyway,' said McNeile. 'There are no plans to accept euros in the bars and so on, and what goes on in the ring is a separate business. It`s not our affair. Bookmakers can choose to accept euros or not, just like they used to with punts.' McNeile added that the second and third days are sold out and the last tickets are expected to be sold this weekend. A crowd of 50,000 each day will attend the festival with an estimated 8,000 race fans set to travel from Ireland.
