Southwell Racecourse Facilities — Getting There & Hospitality

Southwell Racecourse sits on a hundred and forty-five acres of Nottinghamshire countryside, roughly three miles south of the market town of Southwell and immediately adjacent to Rolleston village. The facilities are practical rather than palatial — this is a working racecourse that stages over fifty meetings a year, not a once-a-season showpiece — but they cover the essentials well enough to make a day at the races comfortable whether you are there for the hospitality, the betting or simply the atmosphere of live racing.

What follows is a practical guide to the Southwell racecourse facilities: where to eat, where to stand, how to get there and what to expect if you are visiting for the first time.

Enclosures and Admission Options

Southwell divides its racegoers into two main enclosure areas: the Premier Enclosure and the Course Enclosure. The distinction is primarily one of location, comfort and access to the better viewing positions — not a rigid class divide.

The Premier Enclosure is the higher-priced option and provides the best vantage points for watching the racing. It includes access to the main grandstand, which overlooks the home straight and the winning post, as well as the parade ring where horses are saddled and shown before each race. From the grandstand, you can see the field from roughly the two-furlong pole to the finish on the all-weather track, and you have a clear view of the turf jumps course when National Hunt meetings are staged. The Premier Enclosure also offers access to the Seasons Restaurant and the Sherwood Bar, the track’s principal indoor hospitality spaces.

The Course Enclosure is the more affordable option and gives access to the trackside areas without the grandstand or the premium hospitality venues. Racegoers in the Course Enclosure can watch from ground level along the rail, which provides an immersive, close-to-the-action experience that the grandstand cannot replicate. There are food and drink outlets serving the Course Enclosure — the track’s fish and chips stand is locally renowned — and on good-weather days the lawns alongside the track are an appealing place to settle with a picnic.

Ticket prices vary by meeting. Feature days — Ladies Day, the Easter Family Fun Day, the New Year’s Day card — carry higher admission prices than routine midweek fixtures. Advance booking through the racecourse website typically offers a discount compared with purchasing on the gate. Children’s tickets are discounted on most racedays, and some family-oriented events offer free admission for younger children.

Dining: Seasons Restaurant and Trackside Food

The Seasons Restaurant is Southwell’s principal dining venue, located within the Premier Enclosure with views over the parade ring and the track. It offers a sit-down dining experience with a menu that changes seasonally, and it can be booked as part of a hospitality package that includes admission, a reserved table, a meal and a racecard. For corporate groups, birthday celebrations or simply a more structured day out, the Seasons Restaurant is the obvious choice — and it fills up on feature days, so booking in advance is advisable.

The restaurant’s position overlooking the parade ring is a genuine feature rather than a marketing fiction. Diners can watch the horses being saddled for each race without leaving their table, and the views from the trackside windows extend to the home straight. The combination of dining and race-watching in a single location makes the Seasons experience notably more integrated than the equivalent at many racecourses, where the restaurant is tucked away in a hospitality suite with no direct sight of the racing.

For those who prefer something less formal, Southwell has a range of trackside food outlets scattered across both enclosures. The standard racecourse fare — burgers, chips, pies, hot drinks — is available throughout the course. The fish and chips at Southwell has a minor local reputation that extends beyond the racecourse, which is a rarer achievement than it might sound for a venue whose primary business is something other than food. There is also a bar in the Sherwood area of the Premier Enclosure, serving drinks and light refreshments in a more relaxed setting than the restaurant.

Getting There: Car, Train and the Rolleston Station Walk

Southwell Racecourse is located on Occupation Lane, Rolleston, Nottinghamshire, NG25 0TS. The postal address places it in Rolleston rather than Southwell, which can cause confusion for first-time visitors relying on satnav — enter the postcode rather than the town name, and the navigation will take you to the correct entrance.

By car, the racecourse is accessible from the A617, which connects Mansfield to the west with Newark-on-Trent to the east. From Nottingham, the drive is approximately sixteen miles along the A612. From Newark, it is six miles. The racecourse has on-site parking, which is free for racegoers on most meeting days. On busier fixtures, an overflow car park is opened in the fields adjacent to the main site, with stewards directing traffic.

By train, Rolleston station is the nearest stop and is genuinely adjacent to the racecourse — the walk from the platform to the entrance gate takes less than five minutes. Rolleston is a small station on the Nottingham to Lincoln line, with services operated by East Midlands Railway. Trains from Nottingham take around twenty-five minutes; from Lincoln, approximately forty-five minutes. The station also receives services from Newark Castle, Leicester and Grimsby Town, though frequencies vary and some connections require a change.

On racedays, the train service is the simplest and most reliable way to reach the course, particularly for evening meetings when the car park can be dark and the local roads unfamiliar. The proximity of the station to the racecourse is a genuine asset that few venues of comparable size can match — most racegoers at other tracks face a bus transfer or a long walk from the nearest rail stop. At Southwell, you step off the train and you are there.

Corporate Hire and Event Hosting

Southwell Racecourse markets itself as a venue for corporate events, private celebrations and team-building activities alongside its core racing programme. The Minster Suite, a function room within the main buildings, can be reserved for private use and accommodates groups of up to two hundred and forty guests for seated events. It has its own balcony overlooking the track, which means corporate guests can watch the racing without leaving the suite.

Corporate packages typically include admission, a reserved area, catering and a racecard, with prices scaled to the size of the group and the level of hospitality required. The racecourse also offers marquee hospitality on selected racedays, with temporary structures set up on the lawns for larger parties that do not fit within the permanent buildings. Themed packages — Gentleman’s Day, Ladies Day, seasonal events — are promoted through the racecourse website and often include extras such as live music, a dress code and a best-dressed competition.

The venue hire extends beyond racedays. Southwell’s facilities are available for conferences, exhibitions, private parties and weddings when racing is not taking place. The racecourse grounds, the parade ring and the track itself have all been used as backdrops for events that have nothing to do with horse racing — a flexibility that generates income for the venue during the gaps between meetings and helps maintain the site year-round.