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Swindon Town Ground Name: County
Ground |
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| Contents | |
| What's The Ground Like? Don Rogers Stand (photo) What Is It Like For Visiting Supporters? Arkells Stand (photo) Where To Drink? Looking Towards The Town End (photo) Other Places Of Interest How To Get There By Car & Where To Park By Train A Closer Look At The Town End (photo) Admission Prices Local Rivals Programme & Fanzine Disabled Facilities Fixtures 2009-2010 Ground Layout Record & Average Attendance Fans Ground Reviews Hotel Accommodation Feedback Return To The Main Menu |
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| What's The Ground Like? | |
| At one end is the
Stratton Bank Stand, a former terrace with rows of seats bolted on to it. This area is
uncovered and has a clock above it as well as a small electric
scoreboard. Opposite is the small, covered Town End, with several supporting pillars
across the front. An unusual feature is that the supporting legs of one of the
floodlight pylons are actually in one side of the stand, there are
even some seats situated behind them! The sides are larger, two
tiered covered stands towering above the two
ends. The newest of these is the attractive Don
Rogers Stand, while on the other side is the older Arkells
Stand. The latter has windshields on either side
and a few supporting pillars. The ground also benefits by a striking set of four floodlight pylons. Once a feature across the country, floodlights are slowly but surely disappearing from the landscape, being replaced by rows of lights across the stand roofs. It's a shame really, if only because the floodlight pylons made it a lot easier to locate a ground in a town or city and were always synonymous with a football ground. | |
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| What Is It Like For Visiting Supporters? | |
| Away fans are located in the Arkells Stand at one
side of the pitch, where up to 1,200 fans can be
housed. This is an older stand with facilities to match, but at
least you are under cover. If you are at the back of this
stand there is one supporting pillar which
may impair your view of the goal otherwise
it is fine. You even get a view of some of the rolling Marlborough
Hills beyond one corner of the ground! There is a small kiosk at the
back of stand serving amongst other things a
range of Shires Pies (but alas no chicken balti pie), but be
careful when taking them back to your seat. The entrances to the
seating areas are through large solid doors,
and to compound matters they open out towards you!
Teams with a larger away following can also be allocated the Stratton Bank End if required. A further 2,100 fans can be accommodated in this area, but the end has no cover and is open to the elements. Fine on a nice sunny day, but on a cold wet, winters day, it can be grim. I found Swindon to be a relaxed and fairly friendly day out, although the size of police presence on my last visit seemed excessive. On a previous visit I managed talk my way into the players lounge & bar after the game, quite an experience! | |
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| Where To Drink? | |
| The County Hotel
right by the ground, did not allow entrance to away supporters on my
last visit. Best to continue down County Road and seek out the
Cricket Club that sits behind the Arkells Stand. As Mark Osborne
from Swindon adds; 'On match days home and away fans can park on the cricket ground (for a
small fee) and then have access to a drink in the cricket club. This
is a very friendly (as well as cheap) club that always welcomes away
fans'. I would echo these comments but also add that you can still
get into the cricket club (there is no charge) even if you have not
parked there. Please note though that the Cricket
Club facilities are not available when the Cricket Club is playing a
match. This doesn't happen often but can do towards the beginning
and end of the football season, when fixtures overlap.
Audrey MacDonald a visiting Hartlepool United fan, recommends 'The Merlin' on Drove Road, near to the magic roundabout. 'Away fans are welcome and they have Sky Sports showing on 12 television screens and even in the gents (according to my husband)'. Alcohol is available within the ground to away fans in the Arkells Stand (but not in the open Stratton Bank End), otherwise if you arrive early Swindon town centre is a 15 minute walk away. | |
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| Other Places Of Interest | |
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Located near one corner of the ground is the 'Magic Roundabout'. Whoever designed this must have been on something. It is a large island surrounded by five mini roundabouts, which effectively means that traffic can go round the main roundabout the wrong way! Confused? I was!
Thanks to Chris King for providing the image of the Magic Roundabout above and the directions below. Chris suggests that visiting supporters, with the aide of the diagram, can perhaps practice in their back garden prior to visiting Swindon! If you want further information then visit the Magic Roundabout page of the Swindon Web. | |
| How To Get There By Car & Where To Park | |
| The ground is well
signposted in and around Swindon town centre. Just follow signs for
'The County Ground'.
From M4 Junc.15: Follow A345 (Queens Drive) to Drake's roundabout. Turn left towards the Magic Roundabout, The County Ground is on the corner of this roundabout. From the North A419 from Cricklade/Cirencester/M5:Continue on the A419 until reaching the top of the new 3 lane stretch of dual-carriageway, which runs uphill. (I would advise to stay in the inside lane on this climb as the exit approaches quickly). Take the exit at the top of the hill (Lady Lane Junction). At the lights go right, then almost immediately at the next set of lights go left. Follow this road through the next set of traffic lights (passing the Motorola building to the right), then branch left onto the A4311. From here follow this road, following signs for Town Centre. At Transfer Bridges roundabouts turn left at the first and then straight over the second. The County Ground is on the left after the mini-roundabout. The County Ground is one of the few remaining football stadiums you can notice from a fair distance, due to the striking floodlights. Thanks to Robin Sharpe for supplying the directions. If you survive the Magic Roundabout
then there is some street parking. Otherwise park at the cricket
club (take County Road off the Magic Roundabout, go past the County
Hotel on your right, you will see a small sign further down on your
right for football parking, just before the mini roundabout). There is some parking available at the ground itself
for a cost of £10. | |
| By Train | |
| The ground is walkable from Swindon train station and will take you around 10-15 minutes. Leave the station, cross the road and proceed up the road between the two pubs (Great Western and Queen's Tap), continue to end of road. Turn left, proceed along Manchester Road, through traffic lights as far as you can go. At the junction turn right. The County Ground is about 300 yards up this road on the left. Thanks to John Bishop for providing me with the directions. | |
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| Admission Prices | |
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Home
Fans: | |
| Local Rivals | |
| Oxford United, Bristol Rovers & Bristol City and from further afield Gillingham. | |
| Programme | |
| Official Programme: £3 | |
| Disabled Facilities | |
| For details of disabled facilities at the ground please visit the relevant page on the National Association Of Disabled Supporters (NADS) website. | |
| Fixtures 2009-2010 | |
| For the Swindon fixture list click here (to take you to the BBC Sports Website) | |
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| Record & Average Attendance | |
| 32,000 v
Arsenal FA Cup 3rd Round, January 15th, 1972. Modern All Seated Attendance Record: 14,731 v Walsall League Two, May 5th 2007 Average Attendance: 2008-2009: 7,499 (League One) 2007-2008: 7,170 (League One) 2006-2007: 7,419 (League Two) | |
| Fans Reviews Of The County Ground | |
| Damian Purser (Leyton Orient)
17/4/09 Matthew Day (Luton Town) 18/8/07 S Smale (Bristol City) 30/11/04 | |
| Hotel Accommodation | |
| If you require hotel accommodation in the area then first try a hotel booking service provided by Football Hotels who are powered by Activehotels, who specialise in locating accommodation near or within a short travelling distance of the football ground. They also have the added advantage over some other hotel booking services that you pay on departure. Yes this site will earn a small commission if you book through them, but it will go to help with the running costs of keeping the Guide going. To access their Swindon page click here. | |
| Feedback | |
| If anything is
incorrect or you have something to add, please e-mail
me and I'll update the guide. | |
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