Epsom Derby - Epsom Fair

Epsom Fair

For many years the Derby was run on a Wednesday or a Thursday and on the day huge crowds would come from London, not only to see the race but to enjoy other entertainment (during some of the 19th century and most of the 20th Parliament would adjourn to allow members to attend the meeting).

By the time that Charles Dickens visited Epsom Downs to view the race in the 1850s, entertainers such as musicians, clowns and conjurers plied their trades and entertained the crowds while others provided other forms of entertainment such as coconut stalls. The crowded meeting was the subject of a painting by William Powell Frith painted in the 1858 and titled The Derby Day, critics have pointed out that the foreground of the painting shows some of the other reasons the crowds came to see the Derby while the racing is relegated to the margins.

In the 1870s, the steam-driven rides were introduced and they were located at the Tattenham Corner end of the grounds and the fair was one for ten days and entertained hundreds of thousands. During the latter half of the 20th century Derby Day became less popular and the race was moved from Wednesday to Saturday in 1995 the hope of reviving the numbers who came to see it. As the number of people attending the fair dwindled its length was reduced from 10 days down to three or four, and in 2009 the fairground was closed to allow the space to be used for other purposes such as car parking.