Horse racing fans can buy 'world's most expensive pint of Guinness' at Cheltenham Festival

Racing fans can spend their Cheltenham winnings this weekend by enjoying the world's most expensive pint of Guinness.

Around 274,00 horse racing fans are expected to attend the famous four-day festival which starts today, and they are likely to consume over 300,000 pints.

The prices of drinks at the festival is always a talking point, with many punters unhappy with the rising costs in recent years.

In response to what they call "the complainers and moaners", online bookmaker Fitzdares has launched a new tipple at an appropriately astronomical price point.

The Club Black Velvet is a 'perfect blend' of English sparkline wine and Guinness, and will set punters back £20 a pint.

The new concoction - liekly to be the most expensive ale ever served at Cheltenham - will be available in Fitzdares Club at the racecourse and its sister venues in the Cotswolds and London's Belgravia.

The bookmaker’s chief executive officer William Woodhams launched the drink to celebrate the Government’s post-Brexit Northern Ireland trade deal with the European Union - known as the Windsor Framework.

It's also a dig at customers who complain about drink prices at the race meeting.

He said: "Every year there is more and more controversy around the cost of Guinness at the Cheltenham Festival and frankly we were bored of it.

"So, to gently rib the complainers and celebrate recent political manoeuvres we have created the world’s most expensive - and finest - pint of the black stuff with a mix of premium English sparkling wine and Guinness brewed in Dublin.

"Isn’t it the perfect way to celebrate free trade between our two great nations and the Windsor protocol? The Irish visitors to Cheltenham can afford it with their strong currency. Yours for £20."

For those who don't wish to ruin a perfectly good ale and offend the 70,000 Irish racing fans that are expected to fly over for the festival, pints of standard Guinness can be had for £7.50 a pint.