The Grand National Hospitality

What is Grand National hospitality?

Grand National hospitality is corporate entertaining built around the three-day Randox Grand National Festival at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, spanning everything from a shared restaurant table with course views to a private box overlooking the track on Grand National Day. It gives corporate hosts a dedicated space, hosted dining, and a prime vantage point for the race itself.

Across the festival, the hospitality spread runs in one continuous line: entry-level restaurant packages with hosted dining and course views at one end, and full private boxes with dedicated space, catering and a Grand National Day view of the finish at the other, with every stage in between available on any of the three days. Most write-ups describe a single restaurant or a single box in isolation, which makes it harder for a corporate buyer to see the full range of choice before deciding which day, and which level, suits their group.

First run in 1839, the Grand National is Britain's most famous steeplechase, contested each April over roughly four miles and two and a half furlongs and 30 fences, on the National course at Aintree Racecourse (founded 1829) in Liverpool, operated by The Jockey Club. The 2027 running will be the 179th, and the race is broadcast free-to-air on ITV through to 2030, giving any hospitality day at Aintree a genuinely national audience alongside the guests in the room. Randox's title sponsorship of the Randox Grand National now runs to 2029.

The 2026 running was won by I Am Maximus, trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Paul Townend for owner J.P. McManus, the first horse to regain the National since Red Rum, in a field of 34 runners over the course's two circuits.

When is the Grand National in 2027?

The 2027 Randox Grand National Festival runs from Thursday 8 to Saturday 10 April, across three named days: Opening Day on the Thursday, Ladies Day on the Friday, and Grand National Day, when the National itself is run, on the Saturday. Corporate hospitality planning for the festival typically starts well ahead of April, and the three days are booked separately, so deciding which day suits your event is the first practical decision.

Which day of the festival is best for corporate hospitality?

There's no single best day of the Grand National for corporate hospitality: Opening Day on the Thursday suits a more relaxed, value-focused client day, Ladies Day on the Friday brings the festival's biggest occasion and atmosphere, and Grand National Day on the Saturday is the marquee date built around the National itself. The right choice depends on whether the priority is cost, atmosphere or prestige. See the full comparison of all three days for a detailed breakdown.

Opening Day

Opening Day, the Thursday of the festival, is generally the most accessible of the three days and suits corporate groups who want the full Aintree experience, quality racing and hospitality, without the scale of the Ladies Day or Grand National Day crowds.

Ladies Day

Ladies Day, the Friday, is the festival's biggest occasion for atmosphere and style, and draws the largest single-day crowd of the week: the 2026 Ladies Day set a record crowd of 53,102, the biggest since 2012, within a festival that welcomed more than 140,000 racegoers across the three days. Pick it when the day is built around occasion and entertaining as much as the racing itself.

Grand National Day

Grand National Day, the Saturday, is the day the National itself is run, and demand for hospitality is strongest across the whole festival. It fits groups for whom being there for the race itself, rather than the wider festival atmosphere, is the point.

What is included in a Grand National hospitality package?

A Grand National hospitality package generally combines a dedicated space at Aintree Racecourse, hosted dining, and a view of the course, split broadly into dining, viewing and extra touches such as race card information and a hosted team on hand for the day. Exactly what's included depends on whether the booking is a shared restaurant table or a private box.

Dining

Across the festival's restaurant packages, hosted dining typically runs to four or five courses, served through the racing card so guests are never away from the action for long. Packages generally include a hosted bar (over-18s only, ID may be required) alongside the meal, with tables arranged to seat a client party together.

Viewing

Every hospitality level includes a view of the course, though the quality of that view varies by facility and floor. Restaurant packages typically overlook the parade ring or a stretch of the course, while private boxes can be positioned closer to the track itself, including options with a view toward the winning line on Grand National Day.

Extras

Beyond dining and viewing, most packages add racecard information, a dedicated host or team on hand for the day, and cloakroom facilities given the Merseyside spring weather. Corporate groups travelling as a party sometimes pair the racing with the Grand National Express, a train-based day out that folds transport into the same client-entertainment itinerary.

How much does Grand National hospitality cost?

What a Grand National hospitality package costs is driven by the dining level, the viewing position, which of the three festival days is chosen, and whether the booking is a shared restaurant table or a private box. Grand National Day on the Saturday sees the strongest demand of the three, which feeds into cost, while Opening Day tends to offer the most accessible entry point into the festival.

Restaurant packages sit at the more accessible end of the range: a shared dining room, a set menu and a view over part of the course, priced per person and scaled by facility. Private boxes sit at the other end, built around exclusivity rather than a shared room: a dedicated space for one group only, catering built around that group's numbers, and a chosen view of the course, generally priced for the whole box rather than per head. Group size matters too, since larger private bookings spread the fixed cost of the space across more guests, while smaller groups often suit a restaurant package better.

How do private boxes and group sizes work at Aintree?

Private boxes at Aintree Racecourse range from more intimate spaces up to substantial suites capable of hosting a large corporate group. Restaurant packages, by contrast, are typically arranged around shared tables, so a group booking is built up in table-sized units rather than as one private space.

The Princess Royal Suite is one of the racecourse's larger hospitality spaces, and across the venue private boxes span roughly 16 to 72 guests, giving corporate buyers a genuine choice between an intimate box for a small client group and a substantial space for a full department outing. What suits a party of eight looks different from what suits sixty, and the better fit turns on whether the day is about focused client conversation or a wider team occasion.

Is Grand National hospitality still available for 2027?

Yes, the 2027 running is confirmed for Thursday 8 to Saturday 10 April, and corporate demand for the festival builds well ahead of Grand National Day, the busiest and most sought-after of the three days. Interest spans the full spread, from Opening Day's more considered pace to a Saturday private box for the race itself, and all three days are worth comparing before deciding which suits an event.

See Grand National 2027 hospitality for the day-by-day detail, and Aintree as a venue for more on the racecourse itself beyond festival week. For other UK racing fixtures, see horse racing.