The Downs roads close
On the big meetings the roads across the Downs are closed to through traffic. Addresses at Tattenham Corner, Langley Vale and along the Downs edge become genuinely difficult to reach, and the diversions are long.
The calendar
Twice a year the town closes
It is the most local piece of knowledge there is, and the one a national firm quoting off a postcode cannot have.
Epsom Downs holds two of the best-known flat races in the world, and on those meetings the town takes a very large number of visitors. The roads across the Downs close to through traffic under a temporary traffic order, and the diversions are long.
This is not a reason to avoid Epsom. It is a reason to know the calendar before a date is agreed, which takes no time at all and which nobody outside the town ever does.
The calendar
Twice a year the town closes
The big meetings shut the roads across the Downs and fill Epsom. It is the most local piece of knowledge there is, and the one a national firm quoting off a postcode cannot have.
The town centre fills
Epsom takes a very large number of visitors on those days. Parking that is merely tight on an ordinary weekday is not available at all, and the station approach is busy from early.
A suspension will not help you
A council bay suspension holds a bay against ordinary parking. It does not help when a road is closed under a traffic order for an event, and it is not worth paying for on those dates.
What we do instead
We check your date against the race calendar before it is confirmed, and if you are anywhere near the Downs we will tell you plainly that another date would be better. Where a date genuinely cannot move, we start earlier and route in from the far side.
Ask any firm “Have you checked our date against the race calendar?” The answer tells you how local they really are.
Which addresses are actually affected
Less obvious than it sounds. Some addresses with a Downs-sounding postcode are barely touched, and some in the town are badly affected because of where the traffic routes.
- Downs edge, Tattenham Corner and Langley Vale — significantly affected.
- Town centre and the station approach — busy, and parking effectively unavailable.
- Stoneleigh, Ewell and the Worcester Park side — usually fine.
- Ashtead and Leatherhead — usually fine, though the approach roads carry more traffic.
If your date cannot move
It is workable. We start earlier and route in from the far side, away from the closures, and the load is planned so that the awkward part happens before the traffic builds.
What nobody should do is book it without knowing. We check every Epsom date against the calendar before it is confirmed, and it costs nothing.
Tell us the address and who holds the keys to the door
Both addresses, roughly how much there is, and — if it is a managed block or an estate — the name of the block or the estate. That is the detail that unlocks everything else.