Original subtitles

Deep in the Cumbrian countryside lies the historic

market town of Appleby.

Home to just a few thousand people, it's a quiet

and peaceful place to live.

But once a year, everything changes.

CHEERING

Get the river open!

Guys, guys, guys, enough.

We've got a job to do!

More than 40,000 people descend...

..to the world famous Appleby Horse Fair...

There you go, have some of that, son, there you go.

..the biggest Gypsy and Traveller event in Britain.

Gypsying about.

Best life.

It's an affair steeped in history.

I'm 80 years of age, and I've done this all my life.

For over 300 years,

people have flocked here to buy and sell horses...

I'm on for a deal.

Are we on for a deal?

We're on for a deal, sir.

I want to give you 50 quid back, out of 1,800 quid.

I'd like a million pound from them but I'm not going to get them, am I?

High up!

Get up there, son!

..making Appleby Fair a cornerstone of Gypsy culture.

I love horses a lot.

I love it.

It's my main, entire, part of my life, my year.

My heritage, everything.

The police, council, and Gypsy groups work together

to try and ensure this extraordinary event runs smoothly.

Everybody's at me, everybody's talking to me, everybody wants to talk to me.

All the Gypsies, the Travellers, the police.

But some feel the event is out of control...

SIREN WAILS

Oh!

Get the ambulance!

Hey, hey, hey, hey!

Just total mayhem.

People are full of drink, it's getting a little bit rowdy.

Wa-hey!

..and they want to see it banned.

You do feel intimidated.

Wa-hey!

I think a lot of people would like to see it cancelled.

Appleby fair!

But some visitors don't feel welcome.

To be quite honest with you, the locals are quite racist.

Just slow it down, please.

You get called things, like we're all thieves and tinkers,

and we do this, we don't - we all work hard for a living.

Look after our children, just like anybody else.

With never before seen access to this historic event...

So, we've got to try and facilitate the locals being happy and the Gypsy

and Traveller people being happy.

I'm not a fool. I can see how far the water's gone down, look at...

That is what has to happen.

The police are just clamping down on everything.

It's a police state now.

..this is the full story of Appleby Horse Fair...

It's our identity as a people, as a nation.

..the most notorious Gypsy celebration...

..in Britain.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

In the centre of Appleby,

in nearby town Kirkby Stephen...

..the local residents are prepping for the fair.

And feelings are mixed.

It's just a small place and we're just invaded by thousands.

Not just those that come to the Fair Hill,

all the tourists that come as well.

There was a lot of aggression last year.

On two occasions, somebody has had a wee in the garden.

Getting himself ready for the incoming visitors

is 80-year-old Navy veteran, Mervyn.

If you look at this, this reminds me of the ARP,

Air Raid Precautions, in the last war.

You don't expect that in an English country town.

I was horrified when I saw it.

Last year, it was chaos.

They were urinating in the bus shelters.

They'd broken into stables to use them as lavatories.

You had to duck when the young boys were driving, they'd

wind their windows down and just clear their throats and spit.

But as with any big event drawing large crowds,

problems will occur.

What would your reply be to the Gypsies who say that

they're being prejudiced against?

Absolute rubbish.

If we're short of police, we ought to employ a few Gurkhas...

..because Gurkhas would sort it out very quickly.

With some residents fearful of things getting out of hand,

it's up to the police to enforce the rule of law.

Last year, we faced some criticism from the local communities around

how we policed Appleby Fair in 2018,

and we've learnt some significant lessons from that.

This year, new police tactics include more

officers on the streets and tighter road restrictions

to manage the influx of people and horses.

So, we've significantly uplifted our numbers.

Unfortunately, we never please everybody.

On one hand, if we don't have enough officers here,

we haven't got sufficient staff to deal with something which may present itself.

On the other hand, if we have far too many officers,

it can look overbearing.

The police are prepped, the town is ready, and the Gypsies

and Travellers are coming.

Pump the wheels up high, keep it moving!

HE LAUGHS

Whoa!

We've come about 60 mile,

from County Durham.

I've come from Linton, Newcastle, and I've done 73 mile

in the last five days.

Bury, I've come from, and it just took me over a week.

I camped here and I camped there, so just steady away, really.

The Horse Fair is a unique and historical gathering.

And for those who make the annual pilgrimage, it's the most important

event in the Gypsy calendar.

Tell me what Appleby means to you.

It's like a focal meeting point for families.

It's a gathering of old friends, and talking about what went on

during the year and who died and who didn't die.

Hopefully, we're not on the list! No, we're not on the list.

We haven't taken out any policies on one another.

With the fair due to open in the morning,

Travellers and Gypsies from far and wide set up camp for the night,

a few miles away from Appleby.

You think you'd have some eggs in here, wouldn't you, or something?

And sausages.

And ham and all kinds.

And a bit of hedgehog.

Or hedgehog in it!

HE LAUGHS

Excited about the fair is 80-year-old Romany Gypsy, Jack.

I come from Wales, but I've come to Lancaster and then I've travelled

all the way up steady with the wagon and horses.

Two horses and me.

Three weeks I've been coming up, taking my time,

and I could do with somebody giving me some money.

HE LAUGHS

I love going to Appleby for that week.

Everything, you just light up, your heart lights up to it.

And we love coming here.

I've done this all my life, from a kid.

All my friends love coming here, and we meet one another here,

we have a deal, horses, and maybe a bird, we sell a canary.

Anything that we earn money with.

And if we rob one another, we rob one another of our horses,

you know what I mean?

Oh, you robbed me this time, I'll get you next time!

But new measures have meant closing off large sections

of the road into the fair and some Travellers

are being forced to camp by the side of the main road.

Hope you don't mind, I'm just being myself, like.

Fucking hell.

You've got to fucking do it somehow.

Clean clothes, how you want, fucking job done.

We were meant to camp at Warcop, but the police coming

through the village sent us up a mile and a half down road,

up here, so we just fucking end up down here on main road.

Two wagons like this shouldn't be here on road with horses on banking.

Kids and stuff. For horses and that it's dangerous on here.

Proper dangerous.

Yeah, we shouldn't be here, we should be up in Warcop.

Police again for you.

Oh, we've got this, we've got that. Fucking wankers.

How do I feel? I think it's rude.

Disrespectful. Course I do.

We're just people living how we want to live.

We're not horrible people, we're just people, like everybody else.

Whether you live in a house with a nine to five job, don't matter.

HORSE WHINNIES

With just a few hours until the fair opens,

it's not long before the police, the locals and 40,000 visitors

will come together in the quiet market town of Appleby.

No matter what they try and do, I'll never...

They're not going to stop it, are they?

The sleepy town of Appleby in Cumbria is about to wake

from its slumber,

by hosting the biggest Gypsy and Traveller event in Britain.

Thousands of Gypsies from all over Europe are expected.

It's a big event for a small town.

I think there's a lot of people will try to stop it. Definitely.

It's overrun by thousands of people and it just takes

a lot of getting used to.

This year has seen more police and new restrictions...

Our kind of like role is to try and keep the locals and the Gypsy

and Traveller people all happy.

The police are just clamping down on everything.

It's a police state now.

Why wouldn't they allow freedom of life?

What's been doing and going for years and years and years?

..which some are finding difficult.

Lads coming into villages, they're telling them to move on.

It's disgusting.

There seems to be more police again this year and it just gets...

The more police here, the more intimidating it feels.

The man charged with trying to keep everybody happy is Billy,

the Shera Rom, or Head Gypsy.

I'm constantly coordinating everything with the police.

Everybody's at me, everybody's

talking to me, everybody wants to talk to me.

All the Gypsies, the Travellers, the police, and the visitors

to the area, the council.

I'm dealing with everybody at the same time.

As the custodian of the fair,

it's not officially open until Billy raises the Roma flag.

So, what we do is raise the Roma flag, and that means the fair

is officially opened.

We've done this for quite a few years now.

And the flag, that's the world flag.

While the blue represents the heavens, the green represents

the fields and forests of Earth.

And the 16-spoke cartwheel in the middle, the chakra,

represents our nomadic heritage,

to roam freely between heaven and Earth.

Right, you've got that tape, Tommy, and the knife?

Right then, get the tape around it, Tommy, yeah?

I'll hold it here.

That'll do.

Well, it's the most important date in the Gypsy and Traveller calendar.

There's nothing more important.

If you say to any of these children,

do you want to go to Disneyland in Florida instead of Appleby?

Definitely not - we want to go to Appleby.

There'd be no contest, do you know what I mean?

Children would rather come to Appleby.

It's more important to us than Christmas.

It is literally our Mecca.

When we're here on this field,

this is where our ancestors have been coming for centuries.

When we sit around the camp fires on here, it gives

a sense of place, a sense of belonging,

a sense of ancestry.

It is literally sacred to us.

When we're here, it makes us feel closer to God.

Look at the scenery around us - it's God's country.

With the flag flying high,

the Gypsies and Travellers arrive in bulk.

Traditionally a trading fair, the main purpose of Appleby,

since its origins over 300 years ago, was to buy and sell horses.

Some have travelled hundreds of miles, and the first thing

on the agenda is freshening up.

Horses have been washing in the River Eden since the event

was granted a royal charter by King James II in 1685.

And a clean and happy horse has a stronger chance

of selling for a good price.

Well, I've come here to see if I can sell some horses and I've come

to the river to wash them all out

to see if I can sell them, to look pretty to sell them.

Give myself a Gypsy wash, the horse a Gypsy wash.

What would you like for him? Well, as much as possible.

I'd like a million pound for him but I'm not going to get it, am I?

But taking animals into the depths of the river...

HORSE WHINNIES

..is a job for experienced riders only.

A few years ago, a man led his horse too far into the water,

where it struggled and drowned.

This year, the police and RSPCA are keeping

a close eye on water levels...

..and ensuring public safety at all times.

Well, you know, we don't want anyone having any accidents in there, do we? So...

thank you.

But with forecasts of heavy rain on the horizon,

the authorities may need to shut down access

to the river entirely.

Been there when that river's too deep, when the flow's too high.

They're not fools.

Can hear the horses coming.

Normally we have flowers along here and things,

but with the fair on, they'd all just be ripped up and...

And so we can't hang up our baskets

and plant the flowers along here and things.

In the town centre, hotel owner Nigel is ready for this year's fair.

PHONE RINGS

Good evening, Tufton Arms Hotel.

Appleby is a lovely, medieval,

sleepy, small town, big village.

Virtually everybody knows everybody.

They grew up together at the grammar school,

and it's a lovely place to live.

Which actual nights did you want?

Oh, Christ, no, it's the horse fair, obviously.

For the fair, the town does change in character.

If you're just an ordinary resident of Appleby,

it's probably fairly awful.

You can't go around, you can't go to the shops,

you can't drive around, there's people parking

in front of your house, there's people parking a caravan

on your front lawn, literally.

It's unrecognisable from... normal times.

Nigel has a select guest list which includes Gypsies

and Travellers, but for everyone else, he has a unique approach.

We sort of operate behind a closed front door,

so we lock up the back of the yard and lock the hotel up.

We don't have the windows open, we put little wooden things

on the sashes so you can only open them so far, so that you can't get

in from the outside.

The only way is in through the front door and we do that ourselves

and run a hotel behind a closed door, basically.

Anyone watching this want to buy a cheap horse?

Cheap. In harness, heavy harness, graze, flat cart, you name it,

and she can step back and front, hock and knee.

Hock and knee.

Determined to enjoy Appleby Fair to its fullest is 29-year-old

English Traveller, John.

Been here about the last two days doing a bit of wheeling

and dealing and that.

A few horses, chickens, dogs, few cars, anything

we can get out hands on.

Deal for anything. Deal for a boot or an old shoe, mate.

Anything I can get a few wages out of, that's what it's for.

I'll have a deal for that camera, yeah.

He's hoping to sell his horse at the market for a good price.

I'm just clipping his cart on.

That'll do, leave it there, Joe. Pull her out a bit more.

I'm just gonna give this pony a flash for you.

The Gypsy tradition of flashing has been rampant for centuries.

It's the practice of running horses at pace to show off

their speed and condition.

It's a live-action shop window

for people looking to buy and sell their animals.

But speeding horses up and down narrow country lanes

calls for experienced riders.

Despite barriers to protect pedestrians, accidents can happen.

There can be risk to the animals as well.

In 2015, two horses crashed and died.

Very dangerous, this flash stuff.

If you don't watch what you're doing, you can get flattened.

But, today, John only has one thing on his mind.

Hup!

This is where all the dealing commences down here.

Ahoy, boy!

Appleby Fair!

This is the life.

There's a man there, get that on, mate, get that on.

Ay up!

Ay ay!

You meet a lot of old pals.

Like you say, people I've never seen since last year.

It's good craic.

Are you interested in buying this horse, mate?

I'm on for a deal, we're on for a deal.

We're on for a deal, sir.

What we like - we like deals, lads, we like the deals.

Just waiting for a customer, waiting for someone to walk across,

mate, I would like someone to walk over now and just start

bidding me for her.

Hello, how are you doing? Are you all right?

Nice big horse.

This shop is open 24 hours a day, lads.

Are you in for her?

What sort of money is she?

2,200 quid.

Want a thousand for her?

No good. No good.

What's the best she can be?

Would you give two grand for it?

1,600.

Listen... Tell him you'll take 18, John.

Is she broken? She's brand new in harness.

Brand new. She been a trolley on her?

Yes, four wheelers,

iron tyres, drays. You name it, she's been in it.

Do you want a hundred quid back out of two grand?

Why don't you take 1,800 quid and finish, John?

Would you give 1,800 quid for it?

17 and a half.

Listen, I'm gonna give you 50 quid back out of 1,800 quid.

Down to you. Well, I'll pick her up in the week. That'll do.

The man liked the goods and the man purchased.

Gonna go home and get myself washed up and put a fresh set of rockers on

and I'm off down that village on the drink.

HE CLICKS Get up, lass!

Are you just having a piss, there?

Mr William. Just having a piss in the doorway.

Wa-hey!

As the trading winds down for the day,

the action moves into town.

I really like this fair.

I've been coming here hundreds of years.

Night-time in Appleby can see large crowds gather

to continue the festivities.

LAUGHTER

Extra police officers have been drafted in to keep the peace.

But to some visitors, it's another form of clamping down

on their culture and traditions.

Over at his hotel, owner Nigel is keeping an eye out.

I'm having to do the door because the only way of keeping

the hotel running normally is to control who comes

in and out of the building.

We don't really have anybody in that's not staying.

Excuse me! Hello!

BELL RINGS

So...if I don't like the look of what's out there,

I can keep people out.

Once someone's in, it's really difficult to get rid of them.

If you've got three or four really big lads,

what can you actually do, at the end of the day?

You can have an argument and go and get the police,

but it's just all unnecessary and it spoils the atmosphere

and the hotel for everybody else.

BELL RINGS

But inevitably you end up with people

who just insist on trying to get in,

so eventually you have to open the door and talk to them.

Sorry?

That's obviously stressful. BELL RINGS

Sorry?

I probably have done, yeah.

There's five of you?

Five. Five.

One, two, three, four, five.

Come on, then.

ALL TALK AT ONCE

BELL RINGS

Oi, oi!

Over the road, pub bouncer Kaseem is experiencing

Appleby Horse Fair by night for the very first time.

It's my first year here. Right now, people are full of drink,

it's getting a little bit rowdy,

coming up to kicking-out time. No lies! No lies!

No lies, do you hear me?

Tell the truth, man.

It's coming up to kicking out time.

It'll be a bit of fun, put it that way.

So, we'll see what happens now.

Time will tell, won't it?

You can see yourself what's happening.

It is challenging.

As we come towards last orders, it's nothing like you've seen before.

Until you work here, you don't realise what it can be like,

and we've just got to get through it.

Fella, if you leave you can't come back in, yeah? Do you know who I am?

I don't know who you are.

HE LAUGHS

Right now, it's very stressful. Very stressful, because they don't want to take no for an answer.

When you tell them that it's last orders

and they can't come back in, that's it, they're kicking off.

So, yeah, it's stressful, because they're not listening.

No is not an answer here.

The quiet rural town of Appleby is experiencing the biggest

Gypsy festival in Britain.

I know, old fella.

The horse fair has been a sacred gathering for Gypsies

and Travellers for centuries.

It is important to our culture, our traditions and our history.

And if it was to go, it would be devastating.

And the best things about this fair is about the beautiful horses. Yeah.

But a few locals can't get into the spirit of the event.

They can be very aggressive at times.

Don't you dare. Don't you dare.

It's an upheaval to the town and not everybody is well behaved.

Just slow it down, please.

The police are keen to maintain order.

At the moment all I need to do is to walk around

and make sure everyone's behaving themselves.

But some visitors don't feel welcome.

To be quite honest with you the locals are quite racist.

There is quite a lot of racism down in that village.

You mention the word Traveller or Gypsy

and they just think they're scum because there's a few Gypsies

out there that will give others a bad name.

But there's good and bad in every community, you know what I mean?

The new regulations are a hot topic for festival regular John.

You know what I mean? You get called things and it's not good.

I'll be upset, really, you know.

They look down at us like we're pieces of shit.

Like we're all thieves and tinkers and we do this, but we're not.

This is our way of life. We all work hard for a living.

Look after us children just like anybody else.

We respect the people who don't do this.

But they should respect us back the same.

All right with folk who are all right with us, you know what I mean?

Should all get on together, shouldn't we, really?

And get on with it. Are you a travelling boy?

You're in a trailer rolling? Yeah.

# Rolling, rolling, rolling

# Little Tommy rolling. #

Today, John is at Appleby market, on the hunt for a special kind of deal.

Where are the girls' shops? Little baby shops? Further up?

Got my little girl here. Little Romany, she's called.

You're a bit done up, baby girl.

She came up last year but she was in her mum's belly last year so this is her first year.

She's the only girl in family so all boys and a little girl.

I come and like to spoil her, you know what I mean.

Get her sorted out. Get her some new stuff and make her look nice.

What is the budget? There is no budget. Never a budget.

You can't put a budget on your only daughter, can you now? Romany!

Baby girl. Have a shop around and see what's about.

This walk through here is more for women round here, shopping and that.

Flash, that's your mates up there.

The market is where many women from the Gypsy

and Traveller communities spend their time and money.

It looks nice up. Yeah, I really like it. Oh, wow!

See if I can go and pull a new boy.

The horse fair provides a unique opportunity for many girls to

interact with members of the opposite sex.

Where are you from? For Appleby we get all dressed up and stuff and, like, eyelashes done.

Nails. Spray tan, everything, yeah. Yeah!

With me and him, we are on the pull. We've got to find him a woman.

If you're young, like, you'll go to like find a boyfriend or something.

And then, they just grab you and try to like,

they try to like kiss you and stuff. Or get your number, stuff like that.

It's not like malicious, it's not horrible.

It's just part of the culture. My dad would kill me! Yeah, me too!

What have you got on this stall, luvvie?

Do you get a hat with that one, luvvie,

with knickers and everything, is it all built in?

Isn't this a big size? Going to get her out now and see if it fits her.

Big that, isn't it?

You said you were going do me a good price on that, didn't you, luvvie?

Yes, I did. A very good price now. Very good price.

Cos she's a very nice woman, this woman. She does us very good prices.

Go on, hit me with it. £60. £60? And don't bid me. Can't bid at all?

Not at all, cos that is a good price. Not even £58?

No, not even £59. Jesus. Do you want that one? Yeah.

Do you want that, luvvie? Only got 18, sweetheart. £60 there, love.

Thank you very much. Yeah, they're a good make, them.

Well made, do you know what I mean? You get a lot of shit.

A lot of rubbish stuff about.

But up here, you get some good, you get some...

I'm sure you get some rubbish but you get some good stuff as well, you know?

Well made stuff. John's found what he is looking for.

But at Appleby Horse Fair, more deals are always around the corner.

Hey, look at baby. Jesus! Not much of a baby any more.

What's going on?

A passer by has spotted John's gold ring and is interested.

Send him on, boy. Hold that.

Copper.

See you.

I tell you about it. I made 70 quid on it, so I am very happy with the price he paid, yeah.

Paid for dress. I got a dress for nowt. Get a dress for nowt, then.

Work it out that way. It's happy days.

On flash lane,

Gypsy horse traders of the future are learning the ropes.

SHOUTING

I love horses a lot. And I have been driving them.

I drive them near enough every day.

When I was two, I learnt to drive a horse

and I've just been doing it ever since.

Drive it down yourself.

When I started riding horses, I were four or three. I love horses.

Nowt else but horses. Horses is my world.

When you was a kid if you got bucked off horse, you didn't have a choice.

You got put back on. That's the way of life, you know what I mean?

If you whinged about it, you got a clip round the back of the lug.

He's experienced, mate.

It's the difference, isn't it, you know what I mean?

When you're experienced, you know what to expect, don't you?

Yeah, well, I am very proud. He's a good lad. See you later, mate.

Flash lane, fly with horses up and down. Sell them. Gypsying about.

Best life.

This year's fair has seen new regulations imposed.

Which hasn't gone down well with some.

This fair's been going on for years and years and years

and they're trying to stop it.

They can't stop it because it's heritage. That's how it is.

The police are ruining it, pal. The police are ruining it.

They won't let you tether a horse up or anything, man.

It's up to the police to keep everyone safe,

despite any complaints.

Just slow it down, please.

On the front line is PC Ruth,

who's been patrolling the horse fair for four years.

How do?

No. I'm a right shark. I think I'll be able to manage.

With strict new rules to enforce, she's got her work cut out.

Previous years, it's been quite busy on here and fast.

So, to prevent them from flashing on this section

and making it dangerous,

they've shut the road completely to try and make it safer on here.

But now that means that there's now congestion on here

and they can't obviously flash or trot too quickly.

Some people weren't very happy about it.

The practice of flashing, or running horses at speed to impress

potential buyers, mainly takes place on a designated country lane.

Along this stretch,

barriers protect the public from the dangers of speeding animals.

But some like to flash into the town centre where pedestrians

are unprotected, and any accident could have serious consequences.

This year, police have blocked off part of the main road.

As a result, flashing has been kept away from the built up areas.

That's a tradition, to go from the top end, right out the village.

And they've shut it off, and they should never have done that.

The barrier's caused a few... A bit of bad feeling.

There has been some people made it quite clear that it's not... Sorry.

Oi!

Thank you.

But some are not accepting the restrictions.

Slow it down a little bit. Slow it down a bit.

Accidents on slippery roads can be deadly.

And as the rain gets worse...the riding gets more dangerous.

Mind your back.

Don't encourage him to go quicker in this weather.

Listen, though, seriously.

Mind your back. I told him twice.

Over on flashing lane, the rain is beating down.

But some are throwing caution to the wind.

It's tumbling down with rain now,

but, you know, we're still here and we'll carry on.

And driving their horses faster and faster.

The speed's quite scary.

It is dangerous, yeah. People do get hurt most years.

I'm afraid when people use horses to the extreme, accidents do happen.

As the road gets wetter and the speeds get higher,

an accident is inevitable.

Ooh!

Get the ambulance! Get the ambulance!

The small town of Appleby in Cumbria

is in the middle of the biggest Gypsy horse fair in Europe.

Gypsies and Travellers keen to show off their horses for sale

have been running them at high speeds...

..despite the heavy rain and the warnings by police...

Slow it down a little bit. Slow it down a bit.

..whose job it is to keep everybody safe. Mind your back.

Just slow it down, please.

And then...disaster struck.

Ooh!

Get the ambulance! Get an ambulance quickly.

All right. Paramedics.

Back to the side of the kerb. Back to the side, please. Move away.

The man has suffered a head injury from the impact of the fall.

There is a risk up in this area because the horses are moving

up and down here really quickly.

Often, when it rains, as well, it can get a little bit slippy

and that just increases the risk sometimes, as well.

The ambulance crew is on the scene at once.

Maybe the horse just slipped.

Maybe it just spooked as it was coming down.

No different to the Grand National. Accidents happen.

The man was rushed to hospital with a fractured skull

and was discharged after two weeks.

CHATTER

We have to just have a look at the river.

But for PC Ruth, things are about to get even harder.

If you look round there... Oh, yeah, I see what you mean.

We're on nine now. Yeah, so we're on nine. Yeah.

Heavy downpours have meant water levels in the river rising to

dangerous heights.

So, there's a measuring stick. It was three and now it's nine.

Yesterday, the stones were here.

People could walk right to the centre before they were

going into the river.

There's a cone across there. You could see the cone.

You can only see the top of the cone now.

So, that goes to show how high it's risen overnight.

But it has rained all night last night.

So, it's a very fast flowing river now, unfortunately,

and very dangerous.

Closing the river is a last resort.

Scores of Gypsies

and Travellers wash their horses in the Eden during Appleby.

It's an integral part of their ancient tradition and culture.

But with some visitors already unhappy with the new

restrictions, closing the river may not go down well.

At the police station,

there's a crunch meeting between the emergency services and the council.

Obviously, the objective is to ensure public safety.

We've got heavy rain forecast from lunch time today.

The river levels will go above 0.5, which is, I think,

the trigger level for talking about closures.

And they must decide whether extreme measures need to be taken.

Close the river. We need to prepare for that.

The authorities have been left with no choice but to close the river.

How are we doing? You all right?

If someone tried to take

a horse into the river, you know,

they may well commit an offence, in relation to endangering that

horse or putting it at some sort of risk.

Well, it's definitely going to do the job.

We'll put it between the road closure.

It's obviously...we can't let anybody in this river at all,

and the horses, it's far too dangerous for them.

Yeah, because the sign's this side. The river's closed.

Now all they can do is hope for a change in weather.

As the rain relentlessly falls over Appleby...

..the town braces itself for the busiest night of the fair.

Hey, hey! Appleby Fair!

And while the police continue to enforce the new restrictions...

Tell you the best place to go drinking is, mate,

anywhere but Appleby because you can't get served anywhere.

..the atmosphere gets more lively.

INDISTINCT

Just put them in the middle. So what I'll do is...

Braced for an eventful night is restaurant owner Tariq.

There's more plates over there if you need them.

That's not our original chairs that we use for the normal week.

So we had to like, replace the chairs with... Well, they're

not cheap chairs, but I don't mind them just getting destroyed.

Are the napkins on the tables, yeah? First year was scary.

People, all the locals, yeah,

they just completely put me off from opening the restaurant.

Like saying, oh, they're going to trash your place.

You know, don't open, don't bother. They're going to rob everything.

And I was like, what shall I do? Shall I open or not?

So we thought we'll see how it goes.

But there was so much problems, you know, with getting the money

off them because a lot of them don't want to pay or they run off.

The fair is very lucrative for Tariq but it comes at a price.

One night there was a massive problem with four guys.

"Oh, we're not going to pay our bill," and everything.

I'm like, "You've ate here so you have got to pay for it."

They were having none of it.

We had a girl that worked in here,

she got that scared that she didn't want to come back.

As the town gets merrier...

Easy!

..anti-fair advocate and former Navy man Mervyn is keeping away.

Who's there? Go and get them.

This is about the time of the day I normally go for a

constitutional drink and chat with a couple of people at the local.

Obviously I enjoy doing that. It's about time we went now.

But I'm not gonna go out in the evening because it can get a bit

rowdy and it's not my scene to have that much noise and hoo-ha going on.

I prefer a quiet drink in a civilised company.

I'm afraid lots of them behave in a very anti-social way.

I keep out of the way of trouble.

But if they did come for me I'd give them a good...

Having been taught unarmed combat in the Navy.

Cheers.

How are we going, boys? Hello.

6.45, thank you very much.

Yeah, I'll be with you in one minute. I've got two naan breads. Is that enough, yeah?

In town, things are heating up in Tariq's kitchen.

I put it in.

No, no, no, no...

I didn't say...

No, no, I told him to give you the forks and I...

I apologise for the misunderstanding.

No, I did, I said we've got forks. I'm not the one that said we didn't.

Yeah, I can't do anything about it. It gets a bit tough sometimes.

The worst one they come out with is, "Oh, I've got a complaint."

I'm like, "What would that be?"

"Oh, I think I found a hair... I found a hair in my food." I'm like, "OK."

And the hair's like ginger colour or it's white or it's light brown.

I'm like, "Look, what colour is my hair?" He goes, "Black."

I go, "Well, it can't be my hair."

And the guys in the kitchen don't even have hair

so it can't even be them.

As kicking out time beckons, the atmosphere starts to turn.

Yeah, that's been paid for. Have you stabbed that bill, yeah?

When the pubs close, that's when the mayhem starts.

There is nowhere else to drink, no nothing.

So what they want to do is pile in here.

One of the guys that's inside, or the family inside,

they will say, my brother is outside.

So they will go and let their brother in.

So once the brother's walking in, behind them nine of them

will walk in.

You don't know them, they don't know each other, whatever. That is it.

That is when all the rush starts.

That's when all the trouble starts really. The deadline is 11 o' clock.

Everyone's meant to clear out. But they don't listen.

Is it just your son left, yeah?

Yeah, we're closing now anyway.

Guys, guys, look. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. It's my son.

No, hold on. Hold on, hold on, hold on. It's my son. No. Hold on.

That's my son. Guys, come on. It's closed, guys.

Out. Come on. Listen, don't serve nobody else.

We can't serve nobody else.

The quiet town of Appleby is in the thick of the biggest Gypsy

and Traveller gathering in the British Isles.

New police regulations have been unpopular with some.

They're treating us like dogs, pal. Dogs. Dogs.

Heavy rain has caused the police to shut down the river.

Obviously we can't let anybody in this river at all

and the horses, it's far too dangerous for them.

Which is proving a difficult restriction to enforce.

Let us in the river, man! Let the boys in.

On the front line is PC Ruth.

Go on, then, please, jump out.

Well, can you jump out quicker, please?

No, you shouldn't be on this side either, though, should you?

So either go down there or through here.

It's not just about the height of the river,

it's also about the flow of the river.

The first part of the river, you can obviously see that is shallow.

There is a very big dip in the middle.

And the risk is the depth of the river and the speed of the

river in the centre and people don't understand that element.

It's hardly gone down. Oh, jeez. OK.

So at the moment it's going to remain closed.

One person keen for the river to open is horse trader John.

Getting in the river or what? I want to go for a swim.

Everyone's waiting for the river to open.

They want to be in to wash the horses.

They want to make them look as good as they can to sell them.

If there's no river open we're not selling, are we?

I've got the rest of them tethered up and I want to get them

in the river.

I want to see them... I want to get them washed off, cleaned up,

try and get a customer for them, don't we?

We want a customer so we can buy her some more clothes. Come on.

Come on, let me. Let us in. Hey, we won't go in the deep.

Honest we won't. We promise you.

They're not letting nobody do what they want. It's their way or no way.

Pack up and go home. That's what they want us to do.

Do you know what I mean? It's not right but what can we do?

What can we say? We're the ones who get told where to go and what to do.

At the campsite 80-year-old Jack has had enough of the restrictions and is leaving the fairearly.

What they're doing down there in the town...

I've been coming up here for years.

All my lifetime. But it's never been like this.

Now if they get

away with this,

next year they'll find some new

stuff again.

Something else to do, right, new laws again.

But they can't keep getting away with it.

They don't know about our religion in the country.

They don't know nothing about it.

They've got to change it back to where it was.

The Queen knows we do this every year.

It belongs to the Gypsies.

It's a Gypsy fair. It's been going for centuries.

It is a chartered fair. Nobody can stop it.

Nobody in the world can stop it.

That's all I can say. And that's it.

Back at the river, PC Ruth is working hard. Let us in, man.

No, we're not, we're not trying to do that,

we're just trying to keep it safe.

You know that. It doesn't work that way.

Come on, let us in! Oi, oi!

Get the river opened! Oi, oi!

You have to understand people are getting a bit frustrated.

The water is very low. I've been coming here for 50 years. OK.

I know exactly what they're prepared to do in there.

They're experienced riders and I can see the water has gone down there.

I'm not a fool. Horse shite. Just let them in.

Cos you're going to have a stampede in a minute.

Do you want to know what's happening or do you want to just talk over me?

Well, I can see... The RSPCA have put some dry suits on so they can come into the water.

I'm not a fool, I can see how far the water has gone down.

That is what has to happen. That's what has to happen. You're nuts.

You're nuts.

Before the river can open, it needs to be declared safe by the RSPCA.

RSPCA, going into the water! Ha-ha!

It's just gonna go round. The river is closed.

Aye, it stays closed.

I will definitely be asking for some more staff to come

and help and if it's too dangerous, it's too dangerous, you know.

Cos unfortunately if something does happen, people like to say

it's their own responsibility, but it will always fall back on us.

I'm sweating my head off. Please. Cross my fingers and toes.

Guys, guys, guys, enough! Enough. They've got a job to do.

The fate of the fair rests on this one decision. What are we thinking?

And with the crowd anxious for the river to open,

if it goes the wrong way, things will get hard for PC Ruth.

It's a yeah. Oh, my God, thank God. Cos I thought I was going to die.

I just genuinely would want to kiss you right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The all clear is given.

OK. The river opens.

And centuries of tradition come alive.

CHEERING

Hey, hey, hey, hey!

Violet, this horse is called. This is only her second day being rode.

So we're gonna try her in the river and see how she goes.

Sit and hold on for the best. It's all you can do.

It's a bit cold, like, when you first get in,

but you've just got to take a deep breath and enjoy the ride.

Yeah, it's very worth the wait.

As you can see everyone's ecstatic because the river is open.

There's a few in the back there with bars of soap getting a full

body wash.

It's best of both worlds. Horses are getting washed and we're getting washed so

what more could a man want? Ready for a customer, as they say. Listen.

That is the tit I was telling you about. Just get on and buy him.

I don't want to buy it. Get on and buy!

Extremely relieved cos there was quite a crowd gathering

so if we'd kept it closed I maybe needed a hand.

And hopefully now the river has reopened things will settle

down a little bit and everyone will now, hopefully, have a happy day.

In the market town of Appleby, one of the world's most historic

Gypsy celebrations is coming to an end.

And 40,000 people are packing up camp.

We're gonna go back to Manchester. That's where we're from.

MAN LAUGHS

Rocking on through! All right, thank you, gentlemen, see you later.

Good man.

The police have had the difficult job of enforcing new regulations.

If I was to talk about the police, I'd be arrested.

And for a few locals, the end of the fair can't come soon enough.

I'm glad that the fair's over. It puts a huge burden on the town.

And there was a lot more rubbish thrown away, including

complete takeaways they didn't fancy, just dumped on the floor.

It isn't just paper and cans and bottles, it's mattresses

and things like that.

But we have a very good clean-up.

But a mammoth clean-up operation is under way.

Overseeing things is Billy, the Shera Rom, or Head Gypsy.

The fair's just finished, and we've only just began the clean-up.

The top end of the fair is not too bad.

I tell you what, mind, you've done that in no time at all.

It's all bagged up, that's ready to go in the container.

Most of it is already bagged, people have bagged it and left it.

What we'll do is once we've got the 99% of it up

and got it all bagged, we'll get the bags in the container

before the foxes and the badgers and the crows get at it.

Then, we sweep across with a team of men and every last little

thing, right down to the last matchstick, will be picked up.

Any little broken fences or gates, we fix and repair them,

and when we leave here on Wednesday,

you wouldn't even think there's been a fair here.

We leave it as we find it. You're moving on quick, lads.

Done a very, very good job. Tommy, see you in a bit.

See you later, Billy.

Billy's intent on leaving the fair spotless,

and he's making sure everybody plays by the rules.

You've left a load of bags, the crows will be at them.

Over there. Look at these bags left here.

You've left all the bags, lads. The crows will rip them all out.

Everybody in the fair's used the bin bags,

they've bagged it all up, they just need it collected now

and if we don't collect it, the wildlife will do their bit.

So, we'll get it cleaned up, we'll get it in.

But even before Billy's had a chance to clean up,

pictures of hoards of rubbish have made the papers.

The media turn up, they take a photograph of it

and say this is the rubbish the Gypsies have left on Fair Hill. They do it every year.

If you go on Facebook after the fair, they all put the

pictures on of the rubbish before you get a chance to pick it up.

But then you get the music festivals like Glastonbury

and that there, and the rubbish that they leave is absolutely ridiculous.

They left a load of tents last year. One million percent.

As a proud member of the Gypsy community,

Billy has been fighting negative stereotypes all his life.

This impression that people in the settled communities have

got in their mind, this mythical stereotype, has been

invented by the media and put into the public's head.

So, there is going to be rubbish, but before the man gets

a chance to do it, they're there with their cameras.

Yeah. "Stop them! Put them all in a concentration camp.

"Hitler had the right idea."

For PC Ruth, it's finally the end of a difficult and busy shift.

If I don't see you again... Thank you and I'll see you next year.

We were a little bit unsure with the weather how the weekend was

going to go.

However, today because it's been sunny, it's definitely saved

the weekend, and everyone's had a really good time.

I don't think we've had any arrests. The atmosphere's really good.

And even though people are drinking and consuming an awful

amount of alcohol, they have been very well behaved.

As long as you enjoyed yourself. Thank you very much.

No, I won't.

In town, hotel owner Nigel has been braving

the fair from behind a locked door.

As the visitors finally disperse,

he stands down from his post for another year.

I got to bed about half two,

quarter to three and was up for breakfast.

So, yeah, long days.

I've done three, four days now on those sort of hours, so obviously

I'm a bit jaded today, but the end's in sight and we've done well

and had a good fair, and everyone's enjoyed themselves inside the hotel.

So, sort of job done, really.

Now the coast is clear, Nigel can safely focus on what's important.

Well, to be honest, we never try to grow plants

till after the fair's over cos, you know, it wouldn't make sense to.

Simple as that.

Looking forward to a couple of days off and just having a sleep.

And spacing out.

Also breathing a sigh of relief is local resident

and ex-Navy man, Mervyn.

Thanks for the drink.

We're getting back to normal now, now the fair's over.

There's still a few Travellers here, but they're well behaved.

Last year was a disaster for the town,

but this year, the policing presence has been brilliant.

Perhaps in future years we don't need to have so much.

Well, we've finished with the madness of this year and we're

now ready for the tranquillity of another year of peace and quiet.

So, I'm off to finish my pint now

and finish my constitutional morning drink.

As the Travellers leave in bulk, it's a

good time to reflect on the excitement of the fair.

I can't believe it's over. Once a year isn't enough, isn't it not?

Definitely not.

And it goes too quick, way too quick,

it should be on for a week, two weeks.

We think it's absolutely amazing, the Appleby Fair.

You never want to leave when you come.

Doesn't matter what problems you have before you come to Appleby,

as soon as you get here, it's like uh, doesn't matter, just crack on!

I really love the atmosphere and busyness of it all.

It puts Appleby on the map, doesn't it?

I don't think anyone would know Appleby,

even the name of the town, really, if it wasn't for the fair.

We love it, simple as. Yeah. We like what we like. Yeah.

Sod everybody else! Exactly!

For fair custodian Billy, there's one final thing left to do.

We always get complainers and it doesn't matter what you do,

they will always complain.

But as long as there's a planet Earth, Appleby Fair will exist.

And for another year,

this remarkable town will go back to normal.

But it will always enjoy its unique status of being home to

one of the greatest Gypsy celebrations in the world.

That's how you kick out, kid!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media