With images of jubilant jockeys and celebrity-speckled crowds of smiling punters, Cheltenham Festival, the pinnacle of the national hunt racing calendar, draws in more than 200,000 racegoers to the Regency town on the edge of the Cotswolds each year.
But away from the thrill of the racecourse atmosphere, a darker side to the four-day festival has emerged in recent years. More women have come forward to report feeling unsafe because of harassment, leading many to avoid the town centre altogether.
