Iglu Bars owner Pete Geddes on pulling pints at Cheltenham Town FC and the Cricket Festival and his quest to keep growing.
Watch a PREVIEW of the chat below:
Watch or listen to the FULL CHAT below:
Cricket fans drink their fill at a sweltering festival
The summer of 2026 was a scorcher.
The fans who flocked to Cheltenham College for the cricket festival were certainly grateful for Iglu Bars’ ice-cold refreshments.
Owner and local man Pete Geddes says it was a challenge to keep the drinks chilled as temperatures hit 100F.
“The cricket festival is something very dear to my heart. I’ve been every year since I was eleven.”
But the event was another win in a string of successes for the local company.
“It was fabulous. We were very, very lucky with the weather. I never say too hot but it was approaching that when you’re trying to keep drinks cold,” Geddes told Sport and Life.
“The cricket festival is something very dear to my heart. I’ve been every year since I was eleven.
“We pride ourselves on being able to try and serve people quickly in that situation. They roll in at ten and there’ll be some who have their first pint at one minute past ten.
“The Cheltenham Cricket Festival is an idyllic place to whittle away time with a glass of rosé or ale or whatever.”
Falling in love with Cheltenham Town FC
Prior to launching Iglu, Geddes worked in companies publishing football programmes.
He wasn’t a big Cheltenham Town fan growing up, but quickly caught the bug when Iglu began running the bars at Whaddon Road.
“I now go to away games as a fan. I look at Twitter until midnight seeing who we’ve signed. I don’t watch any Premier League football now.
“If we’re one nil up, and we’ve scored just before half time it’s amazing the flurry of people you’ll have getting a pint to celebrate.
“And if we conceded before half-time there’ll be an early surge to the bar to commiserate.”
“I now go to away games as a fan. I look at Twitter until midnight seeing who we’ve signed. I don’t watch any Premier League football now.”
Cider rules at the cricket
Cricket and football are very different sports. And when it comes to drinking Geddes says cricket people are bigger fans of a West-Country staple.
“Cricket fans drink a heck of a lot more cider. In hospitality at the festival there was plenty of rosé. But overall your standard pint of lager is probably still your winner.”
Big screens and beverages at midnight for World Cup 26
Daytime drinking is the order of the day at the cricket. But in slightly surreal circumstances Geddes and his team were pulling pints in the early hours of the morning in Cheltenham Town’s car park as football fans congregated to watch England.
“For the semi-final we had thirteen hundred people, I think. We got a bigger and better screen than we had for the Euros two years ago.
“We’ll do the same again for Euros in two years time and with the tournament taking place here and the better kickoff times it should be fever pitch.”
Iglu Bars is just getting warming up
Twelve years in, in a challenging economy Iglu bars is a Cheltenham success story.
And Geddes isn’t intending to go on the back foot. He’s just getting going.
“We nearly lost everything in covid. But since then it’s grown and grown.
“It’s very exciting what we’ve achieved. We love doing Cheltenham Town but I’m looking up the pyramid of football clubs and having a look at adding another one in the future.”
“We nearly lost everything in covid. But since then it’s grown and grown.”
Iglu Bars also operate at private functions, including providing mobile bars for weddings. Whether you’re looking for a bar for an event or looking for a job in this burgeoning company, head here:
