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Bristol City Awaydaze
Bristol City Awaydaze
Thursday, 27th Sep 2012 21:19 by Tim Whelan

Our annual visit to Bristol City on Saturday, with a good old-fashioned 3pm kick-off. You’ll find Ashton Gate a couple of miles to the south of the city centre, and I think I’m right in saying that City fans draw their support from south Bristol, while folk living north of the city centre tend to follow Rovers.

If you’re going by car, the recommended route is to use the M5 as far as junction 18, then take the (A4) Portway, signposted towards Bristol Airport and Bristol City. Following signs for the Airport/Taunton (A38) drive over the swing bridge (Brunel Way) branching left into Winterstoke Road & you will see the ground on your left. Then continue along Winterstoke Road until the KFC roundabout and take a first left, and it’s another 200m to the away turnstiles.

Parking at the ground is reserved for permit holders only and street parking is limited. If you arrive early enough, (at least 90 minutes before kick off), there are parking spaces along the Brunel Way dual carriageway which is handy for the ground and ensures a (relatively – depending on how hemmed in you are!) quick getaway after the final whistle. There is also residential parking in the streets around the ground though it is likely that a couple of roads will be coned off by the police.

The nearest railway station to the ground is Parson Street, which is around 15 minutes walk away and is served by local trains to Western Super Mare. There are trains from Bristol Temple Meads at 13.25, 13.55 and 14.25 (taking only four minutes) and a back after the match at 17.04 and 17.36. If that doesn’t appeal, you can make your way direct from the main Bristol Temple Meads station, although that is just over two miles from Ashton Gate. Service ‘A’ buses pick up an hour before kick off costing a flat rate £1 from Temple Meads station and make the return journey after the game from Ashton Road, (behind the Atyeo Stand) by the Greville Smyth Park.

Walking to the ground from Temple Meads will take around 45 minutes, but if you need the exercise you can turn left into Temple Gate, cross over the river, take the first right into York Road and follow the river into Coronation Road. Keep following Coronation Road until you see Raleigh Road on your left. Walk down Raleigh Road and the ground will appear in front of you.

A railway branch line to Portishead runs very close to the ground, but it currently used only by freight trains. A local group have put forward a proposal to re-introduce passenger trains to this line, which would include a station for Ashton Gate, but they have yet to persuade the Department of Transport to provide the necessary funding. So one day we may get a direct train service all the way to the ground, but don’t hold your breath.

None of the pubs next to the ground are very welcoming for away fans, so the best advice is to head north of the ground and over the River Avon on the ‘plimsoll bridge’. On the very far are the Pumphouse and the Rose of Denmark. The Pumphouse is a rather nice pub which overlooks the harbour and has a pleasant outdoor seating area. The drinks are quite pricey but it does offer food too. The Rose of Denmark is quieter and is more of a traditional pub situated by the traffic lights on the dual carriageway.

And there are of course a lot of pubs in the city centre, including a large Wetherspoons close to Temple Meads station, called the Knights Templar. Food-wise, there is a KFC right next to the ground and two fish & chip shops on Ashton Road, as well as a few other takeaways round the corner on North Street. Inside the ground is the usual football ground scoff, including burgers, pies, slices of pizza and sausage rolls.

City moved to Ashton Gate in 1904, though the ground had an unfortunate history during it’s first 37 years of existence. The roof of the South Terrace was destroyed by gales in 1916, a fire partially destroyed the Old Stand in 1929 and then an air raid in 1941 which destroyed the entire grandstand. In more recent years the club replaced the former away terraces at the west end of the ground with the £1.8 million John Atyeo Stand in 1994, in order to comply with the Taylor report.

Naturally, the new stand was far too good for any part of it to be given to away supporters, so we were shunted off to the Wedlock Stand at the opposite end of the ground. This was also a standing area, but here they met the all-seater regulations by simply bolting low quality seating onto the former terracing, so we would have had problems with inadequate legroom if we ever sat down.

The usual away allocation is 2,800, (out of a total capacity of 21,479) and views from some seats are restricted due to the number of supporting pillars and the low roof. This game is category A (we’re not famous any more!) so for these wonderful facilities the prices for away fans are £22 for adults, with over 65s paying £18 and Under 16's £10. Tickets for the away section are still available from the official Leeds site.

The Bristol City website says that home tickets are on general sale, but that “all fans are reminded that purchasing tickets in the home end is strictly for City supporters only” and they’re only selling home tickets to fans already on their customer database.

At one stage the club had plans to redevelop the Wedlock Stand, only to put them on hold while they thought about a more ambitious project to move to a new stadium. The Club have purchased some land half a mile from Ashton Gate at Ashton Vale just off the A370 and have received outline planning permission for a 30,000 all seated stadium, while selling the site of the existing ground to a supermarket. But there are no definite timescales for this and it probably won’t happen unless they ever get promotion to the Premier League.

Some of this information is courtesy of the Football Supporters’ Federation’s ground guide. You can get some more information by visiting http://www.fsf.org.uk/ground-guide/clubs/bristol-city/

Photo: Action Images



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