sport.wikisort.org - Stadium

Twerton Park is a football stadium in the Twerton suburb of Bath, England. It is currently used for football matches and is the home ground of Bath City. From 1986 to 1996 Bristol Rovers played there following their departure from Eastville. From 2020 the ground also became the home stadium for Bristol City Women The stadium has a reduced capacity of 3,528 people, with 1,066 seats.

Twerton Park

2010 Conference South Play Off Final between Bath City and Woking
Location	Dominion Road, Twerton, Bath, BA2 1DB
Capacity	8,884 (restricted to 3528 for safety reasons) [1]
Record attendance	18,020
Field size	101 x 69 m[2]
Surface	Grass
Construction
Built	1909
Opened	26 June 1909
Tenants
Bath City (1932–present) Bristol Rovers (1986–1996) Team Bath (1999–2009) Bristol City Women (2020–2021)
Website
www.bathcityfc.com

History

The ground was opened on 26 June 1909 as Innox Park on land that had been donated by Thomas Carr. The opening ceremony involved a parade of scholars, the singing of hymns and a speech by the chairman of the parish council.[3] Innox Park was named the Cities

Twerton Park became Bath City's ground in 1932. After Bath moved from the East Side of the city in Lambridge, Having previously played in Twerton at the Belvoir Castle Ground for nineteen years from 1900 to 1919, the community put out flags and bunting the length of the High Street to "celebrate the return of football to the area."[4] In the 1940s, Twerton Park was in heavy discussion for expansion, to a capacity of 40,000, in aim to become; "a stadium worthy of the city and the west".[5][6] A record attendance of 18,020 was recorded in 1960 versus Brighton & Hove Albion. Between 1986 and 1996, Bath City shared the stadium with Bristol Rovers, who were a Football League club. In 1990 the Grandstand was heavily damaged by Bristol City Hooligans, seven of, were later convicted of arson.[7][8] The cost to rebuild the Main Stand was £800,000[9] Rovers notably played Liverpool in the FA cup on 5 February 1992.[10] The ground has also hosted Team Bath, who were a full-time professional team playing in the Conference South until their resignation at the end of the 2008–09 season.

At the end of the 2011–12 season the club offered the naming rights to Twerton Park for just £50. The offer drew 167 entries from as far afield as the US, Australia, Norway and Singapore which raised £8,350 for the club. Businesses made up 58 of the entries with only a handful of the remaining personalised entries being deemed unsuitable. The winning entry drawn at random was The Mayday Trust, a charitable organisation that helps to rehome vulnerable people.[11]

Talks have been held in the past between Bath Rugby and Bath City about sharing a ground, as the former team wish to move away from their home ground Recreation Ground, although nothing has amounted from this. Following the resignation of Chairman Manda Rigby, she claimed that the club needed to move away from Twerton Park to "sustain their finances".[12]

Structures and facilities

Up until the late 1980s, the ground had a capacity of 20,000.[13] Though currently, Twerton Park has a recently reduced capacity of 3,528, 1,006 of which are seated. However the physical capacity is around 8,800.[14][15] The stadium has four main stands:

• The Grandstand to the north which encompasses the majority of the seating
• The Bath End to the east, the smallest of the four stands
• The South Terrace, historically known as the "Popular Side", opposite the Grandstand, considered home to the club's most vocal support
• The Bristol End to the west, which is the designated away end when segregation is put in place.

Entrance to the stadium in controlled by traditional turnstiles.[16] The club's official bar is outside the stadium in a car park next to the Grandstand' it was named "Charlies" in honour of Bath's record goalscorer Charlie Fleming. On 2 August 2022 the club announced the opening of a bar between the Bath End and South Terrace.[17]

Redevelopment

Twerton Park is currently being prepared for redevelopment. Initially, the club was in discussions with private investment company Greenacre Capital who wished to build purpose built student accommodation on the adjoining land.

The agreement was for Bath City to give up part of their land to Greenacre, in exchange for the latter to build the club a new grandstand and facilities, which would include affordable housing, a sports bar, gym, offices and community space.[18]

The club also planned to convert the playing surface to a third-generation (3G) synthetic surface. In March 2020, these plans were rejected.

In December 2020 the club announced that they would not appeal the decision but were working with Greenacre, the council and other partners to create a scaled down version of the original plan.

References

Twerton Park Redevelopment.*

External links

• Bath City FC Website
• Twerton Community Site

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