Villagers prepare to welcome wheels of fortune: The Tour de France arrives in July and those on the route are cashing in, Martin Whitfield reports

Martin Whitfield
Saturday 05 February 1994 00:02 GMT
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THE TOWER of St Bartholomew's church in Maresfield, East Sussex, is open to offers, the parish council is looking to rent out the recreation ground and grass verges are like gold dust.

Concern over the arrival of the Tour de France, the biggest sporting event in the world, is swiftly being turned into rampant commercialism as residents along the routes of the two British stages begin to see the benefits of hordes of free-spending enthusiasts and spectators.

'The church has a car park, which, it seems, is a good commercial asset,' Tony Cottingham, a church warden, told a public meeting in the village hall this week.

'We also have a very good church tower. It has an excellent view down the half-mile straight of the sprint and the bend.'

More than 80 residents of Maresfield had gathered to hear the county council, police and Sport for Television, the Tour's British promoters, lay out plans for the famous cycle race to pass through the village on 6 July.

Fears over 'fly parking' by visitors, worries over vandalism and damage to the beauty of Ashdown Forest were mixed with advice on seeking public liability insurance and proposals to bring in a band for an estimated crowd of more than 6,000.

Spectators on the Continent get up at dawn or camp overnight to get the best vantage points. Roads are closed for more than two-and-a-half hours for a cavalcade of sponsors' floats to pass.

The competitors flash past in as little as 20 seconds. Cycling's heroes such as Miguel Indurain, of Spain, Claudio Chiappucci and Gianni Bugno of Italy, and Tony Rominger of Switzerland, virtually unknown in Britain now, are likely to be household names by the end of July.

Maresfield's small group of traders have already drawn up invasion plans. Special food will be laid on by the Cabin Cafe in the main street. Road closures will force John Ashdown, of Littlejohn Tyres, to abandon his normal trade but he plans to develop a sideline in informal catering. 'My wife is looking at all the options. We could undertake some refreshments ourselves or rent the forecourt out. We have got a staff of seven people and can't have them all sitting on their hands, although selling a few beefburgers will make it a bit different from selling and fitting tyres.'

The Chequers, the village pub and hotel, is looking to go upmarket and has already sold champagne breakfast packages to corporate clients. Keith Western, the manager, said: 'It's a different type of event. Companies go to the golf or tennis or football, but the Tour de France is something different.'

Organisers of the race expect the same degree of entrepreneurial spirit in all the villages along the 128 miles of the route from Dover to Brighton and, on the following day, the 113 miles of a tour of Hampshire that starts and finishes in Portsmouth. They hope the carnival atmosphere surrounding the Tour on the Continent will be imported when it makes its journey through the Channel tunnel.

This will be only the second time the Tour has come to Britain. In 1974, there was only a short time trial, and that was before the cycling boom.

Chief Inspector Andy Relf of Sussex Police, who is in charge of the public order aspects of the race arrangements, said he had no idea how many people to expect. 'All the accommodation and all the camp sites have been booked. There is a great deal of interest from cycling organisations in the Midlands and the North,' he said.

News of the impending invasion or of the rushing through of a parliamentary Bill to allow the road closures across southern England has not been universally welcomed by residents, who fear the event will create overcrowding and traffic jams.

But Gerard Feenan, of East Grinstead, a veteran of 18 visits to France to see the race, offered a relaxed perspective: 'The worst people do,' he said, 'is to have a picnic, open a bottle of wine and have a good time.'

(Photograph and maps omitted)

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