Thoughts? http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Stadium-revamp-kick-early-year/story-20077015-detail/story.html Work to start next year (assuming planning permission given) - Completed by 2016/17 season
Where am I going to bleeding go for a season! Will have to be the Dolman half way line or H block in the Atyeo. I'll just be glad when we can start building a new stadium whether it be AV or AG. Something has to be done soon. It's pretty obvious though that AG will get a makeover. ****ing dog walkers got their way.... Stupid pathetic backwards city!
The revamped Gate will be a massive upgrade from the current stadium which is pretty pathetic and that is being kind. I first started going there 30+ years ago and back then it was a one sided ground, with only the Dolman being any good, even with the wooden seats. The Atyeo made it better but the Wedlock & Williams are just dinosaurs. The AG artists impressions look pretty good but the biggest issue will be access and parking. It was bad when I was a regular - I used to park in the old Wills car parks just off of Coronation Road but they are no longer there. We simply cannot be a bigger club until we make the whole "experience" better so families will want to come. People want decent access, decent facilities and a decent team. There's no point in having just one of these - football is now entertainment and City need to fight for the limited monies that fans have that would otherwise be spent on a day out to the movies, bowling or amusement parks. AV still has to be priority 1 but that may now be a pipedream.
If we're upgrading Ashton Gate then there's no chance we'll build a new stadium, at least not in the next decade. I mean, you'd have to be ****ing stupid to spend that much money on a revamp if it'll only get torn down when we move. Since we're going through with what I consider to be a poor upgrade, I think it's curtains for Ashton Vale.
Fully agree. Think it was dead in the water longer than that to be honest. There comes a point where its better to move on- Quite what will come of the AV site is anyones guess
Agree with the above....AV is now just an old dream. I think we will see the redevelopment start just as Steve Lansdown anounces the AV plan is now dead and buried and he will call it a day with everything.
Ashton Vale is not only dead forever, but the constant messing around, delays, and legal reviews have cost the club dearly in various ways and have confirmed we are living in a social and footballing backwater and we always will be. You couldn't make it up
Social backwater. Nonsense it is a fantastic place to live. Bristol is a truly vibrant City. Bristol City FC can become part of that. http://www.propertyweek.com/sainsbury’s-expects-£92m-hit-on-property-sales/5063509.article If the above occurred alternative funding would still be needed.
Sorry but I cannot agree with you about Bristol. I'm Bristolian but the city is being left behind by so many other cities and towns in every conceivable way. Worst traffic congestion in the country. No Arena. No top tier teams in football, rugby and cricket. Bristol Women's Academy excepted. No modern sports facilities with good spectator amenities in tennis, athletics, ice hockey and related winter sports, speedway, horse and dog racing and every other recreation one can think of. No tram system to move people around the city quickly. Buses that cost significantly more per mile than Sheffield for example. Impossible to find an acceptable site for a new football/rugby stadium. Rovers tried for umpteen sites before managing to steal the Memorial from Bristol Rugby. Ashton Vale dog walkers and the latest episode with Judicial review for the TRASH were so predictable. It's a lovely place to live if one likes walks on open green spaces, cinemas, theatre, shopping, universities. But not if you are a commuter who is interested in sport.
The city is being left behind by so many other cities and towns in every conceivable way ... Bristol is constantly highlighted as being one of the best places to live in the UK. It's a GREAT place to live also if you like art, clubs, character, culture, festivals, food, music, pubs and life. I have no doubt that my young son does lives in a City that will present him with real opportunities in his life. The only drawback for me and my family is the lack of days in the week to enjoy it all further.
Indeed, if you can do without a car, don't want to watch football or concerts at any decent facilities, can't travel to truly international destinations by air, are happy to sit at traffic lights heating up the planet, have no cost effective and affordable public transport system, and now for the crowning glory Bristol's first elected mayor has made more official visits abroad than any of England's 15 other elected mayors. George Ferguson has visited foreign countries seven times since his election one year ago, and said it was "a great sign" for the city. Union officials said they wanted Mr Ferguson's focus to remain in Bristol. (too right !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) "This is a great sign for Bristol. It means we're getting the kind of recognition and opportunities that would make other cities green with envy." Having jollies away from home is great and I know it. But we can probably look forward to more cycle lanes, longer commutes to work, higher council tax and the real and existing problems that people really want sorted will still NEVER be tackled Bristol City Council wants to cut £90.6m from its budget, a quarter of its total spending, over the next three years. In addition, the council is currently consulting with unions over plans for up to 800 job losses during the same time period and compulsory redundancies have not been ruled out by the mayor. "Successful city leaders are outward facing - they pay serious attention to international trends and work hard to position their city on influential global networks," he said. Nine of the country's 16 elected mayors have not been abroad in an official capacity in the past year. Sums it all up for me
It's good to know Angelic, that I'm not alone in how I view my home City. And to think, a few hundred years ago, Bristol was second only to London in every respect.
We've rarely competed with London in the sporting stakes Cidered but we're fast becoming a laughing stock as a progressive place because we're simply not. Instead of Virtute Et Industia as the city motto it should be something like Resistant To The 20th Century And Beyond. Shameful and avoidable. This is where Liberalism gets you
I lived in Bristol until I Was 29 and have spent the next 25 in Devon. I liked living there and family and football bring me back regularly- Bristol is much better today than it was then, but still in the 2nd division compared to other cities. Our best concert venue is not large enough to attract other than tribute bands and smaller pulling artists, the two, same tired stadiums are the same, other than the addition of the Atyeo stand and that was some years ago now-Shopping centres are bigger, but aren't they everywhere?, besides, I do most of my shopping on line now. There is no metro system,unlike Newcastle, which has half of our population, the bus system seems the same other than the buses are no longer green- The list is endless. I am a little detached from Bristol news but everytime I see that someone/something wants to progress, it seems to get kicked back. Bristol today to me, needs a massive cash injection to boost its infrastructure to bring it up to a modern, vibrant large city it is capable of.
What Bristol needs is a reality check when it takes me an hour to get from Whitchurch to the bottom of the M32 thanks to solid traffic and 35 sets of traffic lights offering the same time to side roads or invisible pedestrians. It takes me less time to get from the M32 to Swindon or beyond. When I take the bus into town on an evening it can take up to 90 minutes and costs £4. Due to the time it takes and the costs, that's not very often
Now that I have a bus pass, I try very hard to leave the car at home. So from Bradley Stoke to Ashton Gate takes at least 90 minutes by bus due to main arterial roads clogged with parked cars just like the 1960's when I drove buses for a living. My daughter in law is puzzled why my wife and I are soon moving to Frome and I tell her it will reduce my travel time to Ashton Gate by 30 minutes if I use the train. I'd also like to watch my football and rugby in a modern well appointed stadium. Too much to ask for?
Stop being so greedy Being an outsider I still love the City, I get the Welsh news and being in construction covering the Southern region Bristol is possibly the worse to get any major projects of the ground. Look at Broadmead that was so far behind, shop owners didn't want to know, they tried on a small scale with the galleries but it needed to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century with Cabot Circus. Cardiff had a good City centre already, saw up and coming City centres around so they just built a newer St Davies 2 not because theirs needed updating but just not to fall down in competition for trade. Cardiff has a good national stadium, but thought sod it we will improve it a build another, has a good athletics stadium. Can now hold a small arena concert venue circa 3000 capacity, a outside venue up to 40-50k and another 75-85k. The world is evolving most city's evolve with it Bristol does by letting City centres etc become so run down to the degree that it just don't make money, everyone north side had the Mall. Cabot Circus should of been up 10 years before it was at least. I look at Bristol as someone who buys a car and will run it saying I can squeeze another year out of it and run it into the ground, and then get a new one. Other cities have a new car but keep an eye on newer models to upgrade to. I said my piece the other day, and got some comments favourable and some against saying history and tradition etc. I take on board what they are saying but say this to everyone unless change comes the kids of the future will be wishing we done some change when we had the chance, because that could give them something to look forward too.
