Football Ground Guide: Fans Review, Ashton Gate, Bristol City FC

Ashton Gate, Bristol City
League One v Nottingham Forest
Saturday, March 4th 2006, 3pm
By Daniel Peacock

1. Why you were looking forward to going to the ground?

Bristol is one of the rare places in England that I had never been to. Having the weekend off (as I usually play myself) and following Forest's 7-1 mauling of Swindon Town the week earlier, I felt it
would be a journey well worth making.

2. How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking?

Nottingham to Bristol although distant, is a fairly straight journey, watch out for the obvious traffic on the M42 around the NEC but the M5 is usually pretty good. Services are few and far between though so any chance you get to stop off on the M5 is well worth taking, We got to Bristol and was showed in by a friend so getting there wasn't a problem. We were told to park at the Hollywood Bowl car park, which a lot of people had already seemed to do. Other people just parked on the streets in any old manner cluttering up busy junctions and road ends whilst others even parked on the dual carriageway. I can't imagine people would get away with this in Nottingham. The Bristol Police seemed very laid back about it.

We parked on the opposite side of the dual carriageway to the ground,
although we braved crossing the four lanes to get to the stadium (where we approached a friendly City fan who walked and directed us to the away end), common sense told us to use the subway on the way back.

3. What you did before the game pub/chippy.... home fans friendly?

Stopping off at the services seemed the right thing to do for some food, we didn't stop until Michael Wood services just before you come off for Bristol, advice is that breakfasts seem to finish around 11:00 so unless you set off at 8am on a Saturday, it might be worth taking the first possible stop on the motorway if in dire need for an overpriced fry up.

Drinking wise, having arrived in the city at mid-day, we had plenty of time to take a walk into the town and have a drink by the centres waterfront. Very cultural, with the obvious trendy bars, we had a drink at the cool looking River bar, before a five minute walk to the White Lion at Quay Head, this is probably the smallest city centre pub I have ever been in, very old fashioned with a nice Parisian café style tabled area outside, and an amazingly tight spiral staircase leading down to the men's toilet. The town is too far from the ground to walk so you would have to get back into the car again to park up, but for any train travellers it may be worth drinking in the centre before a cheap taxi ride there, as the limited pubs around the ground don't look that
appealing. Also recommended to me is Clifton Village which also has it's fair share of trendy bars, Clifton is around a ten or twelve minute drive from the ground.

4. What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the ground?

Having seen the ground before in various books, programmes and of course on the marvellous footballgroundguide.co.uk website, I wasn't surprised by its looks and surroundings, but couldn't help feeling how much it reminded me of Charlton's Valley (It even has high rise flats overlooking the stadium). The away end itself (the Blackthorn Wedlock Stand) housed nearly 3,000 Forest fans, with a low roof held up by pillars and plenty of legroom in front of basic seating, it was possible to make a lot of noise. The stadium looked busy (over 75% full) so I was surprised to hear that the crowd was only just over 14,000. Good no frills stands elsewhere, I was also surprised that they
didn't seem to be any exclusive seating behind glass for our corporate friends.

5. Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, toilets etc..

The game wasn't a bad match with both sides confident due to good recent form, Forest looked better in the first half with Bristol edging the second, in the end a deserved 1-1 draw. The atmosphere generated from the away end seemed really good (as it always does when your in midst of it) but I was very disappointed with the lack of vocal from City's fans. Stewards seemed
laid back, allowing us to stand with one or two also quite friendly, the sausage rolls looked appealing and the toilets and food bar out at the back of the stand was most adequate if a little dated.

6. Comment on getting away from the ground after the game:

We mingled with City fans walking back to our car and found them very friendly, the unofficial car park in-which we were situated was full to the brim so getting out did take it's time, once back on the dual carriageway and heading away from the town though traffic seemed to ease down. Once out of the City and onto the motorway it was a straight enjoyable if tiring drive home. Back home in Nottingham for 8pm. Pint in the local by five-past.

7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out:

Overall a trip which every away day loving football fan would have to do. Although I would definitely love to go back to the City, I wouldn't go back just for the game, because of the distance it would have to be a weekend staying over, that way the sites and bars can be visited with a little more time, with a possibility of bringing the wife and spending the Sunday shopping in the large town centre.