Paddy Power sign at Cheltenham

Cheltenham is over and apart from some fantastic racing and the fact that it was a poor one for most punters with not enough favourites coming in, the talk of the event was the Paddy Power sign that rather cheekily dominated the landscape and was erected without planning permission in  farmers field on Cleve Hill. Paddy Power reportedly wanted to leave the sign there as a permanent feature but Tewkesbury Borough Council had different ideas and the sign has been removed over the weekend and no further action is expected. If you were unable to be at Cheltenham you may wonder what all the fuss was about; well the fuss was basically the size of the thing. Most people will know the “Hollywood” sign on the hill over Los Angeles and even if you haven’t  seen it for real you will have seen it on TV or the movies; the Hollywood sign is 200 feet wide by 45 feet tall but the Paddy Power sign was a massive 270 feet wide by 50 feet tall. 50 feet by the way is as tall as 3 double decker buses on top of each other. If you are wondering what it takes to construct something of that size, it weighed 100 tons, had a crew of 60 people working on it and it was three years in the making. Paddy Power certainly keep coming up with different things but this was apparently one too far for the local council but we hope the bookmaker carries on with their entertaining.