Royal Ascot: 56,000 bottles of champagne and 5,000 kilos of salmon - what it takes to feed crowds

Royal Ascot is without doubt one of the country's most popular racing events, and boasts some impressive figures.

From attendance to the amount of food and drink that's consumed over the five days, here's a round up of what it takes to run the most prestigious racing event in the calendar.

More than 300,000 people will attend Royal Ascot over the five days - with 70,000 race-goers alone on Gold Cup Day, also known as 'Ladies' Day' on Thursday.

Approximately 400 helicopters and 1,000 limos descend on Royal Ascot every year.

The race meeting is the most valuable in Britain, and a big business for the horse racing industry.

An eye-watering £7.3 million in prize money is up for grabs for the winners.

Around 500 horses will run across the five days with 173,000 racecards printed.

And the decorations are up - a massive 3 miles of bunting.

But for racegoers, it's not just about the horses.

It's a chance to enjoy a tipple or two, and over the five day event, 56,000 bottles of Champagne are popped.

21,000 jugs of Pimm's are poured, and almost quarter of a million hand-crafted afternoon tea cakes are eaten, as well as 5,000 kilos of salmon.

And to get things ready, more than 3,500 cleaning shifts run on a 24-hour cycle during the week.

26,000 items of temporary furniture are hired in for the Royal Meeting and the staff numbers increase too.

There are 163 full-time staff working at the racecourse all year round, but that increases by more than 6,500 temporary staff during Royal Ascot.

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