Whaddon Road: Cheltenham Town

Whaddon Road, Cheltenham , Gloucestershire, England, GL52 5NA
quisnovus / Flickr.com

Whaddon Road has been the home of Cheltenham Town Football Club since 1932, though sponsorship means it is now officially known as the very cool sounding Johnny-Rocks Stadium. The ground was also the temporary home of Gloucester City Association Football Club from 2010 until 2017, when they moved to the Jubilee Stadium in Evesham.

Whaddon Road has a capacity of 7066, although the record attendance is actually 8326 and was recorded after a game versus Reading in the FA Cup in 1956.

Stats

Whaddon Road Stats
Year Opened1927
Capacity7,066
Average Attendance3,203
Record Attendance8,326 (Cheltenham v Reading (1956))
Pitch Size101 x 65 (6565)
Former NameWhaddon Road, Victory Sports Ground, Abbey Business Stadium
OwnerCheltenham Town
SponsorLCI Rail
Clubs HostedCheltenham Town, Gloucester City
Cheltenham Town Stats
Year Founded1887
NicknameThe Robins
Club MascotWhaddney the Robin
RivalsGloucester City
Previous StadiumsAgg-Gardner's Recreation Ground, Carter's Field
KitRed & White (Home) / Blue (Away) / White with Detailing (Third)
Training GroundCheltenham Town F.C. Training Ground
Shirt SponsorMira Showers
Team OwnerCTFC Investments Ltd & The Robins Trust
Record GoalscorerDave Lewis (200)
Record AppearancesRoger Thorndale (702)

Whaddon Road Photos

Whaddon Road Seating Plan & Where to Sit

The Hazelwoods Stand opened in 2005 and is behind the goal at the Whaddon Road end of the stadium. It’s also where the away fans tend to be housed during matches. The Colin Farmer Stand, known to most simply as The Wymans Road but changed to honour the club legend Colin Farmer, runs along the side of the pitch and is where the more vocal fans tend to sit. The Speedy Skips Stand is behind the opposite goal to The Hazelwoods Stand and is a terraced area of the stadium. Finally, The Autovillage Stand has a terraced area at the front and a seated section at the back. This is the main part of the ground as it contains the dressing rooms and so on as well as a family section. Not all of the ground is open for Gloucester City games as the average attendance is only about 450.

Cheltenham Town Ticket Prices

Ticket prices for Cheltenham games differ depending on where in the ground you want to go and how old you are. The cheapest tickets are always in the terraces and the most expensive are for either The Colin Farmer Stand or The Hazelwoods Stand. Junior Robins get in for free but aren’t allowed in The Hazelwoods Stand. Standard prices are shown below:

  • Adults: £18.00 - £26.00
  • Concessions: £13.00 - £18.00

Be aware that buying on the day will incur a £2 surcharge per ticket.

How To Get Cheltenham Town Tickets

Cheltenham fans can pick tickets up from the ticket office, over the phone or online. There is a £2.00 processing fee when booking online.

Where to Buy

Getting To Whaddon Road

Cheltenham isn’t too far from London or parts of the North, so it’s reasonably accessibly as long as you aren’t heading there from the Hebrides. Here are some of the usual routes you’ll want to consider:

Train - Cheltenham Spa Railway Station is about two and a half miles from the ground, so it will take you about forty minutes to walk it. The journey takes about two and a half hours from London Paddington.

Bus - The A bus runs from the town centre to the ground.

Car - From the North take the M5 and leave at Junction 10 getting onto the A4019. Follow the signs from there. From the South you’ll leave the M5 at Junction 11 then get onto the A40. Keep following it until you see the B4075 and follow the signs from there. From London or Oxford Take the A40 and the B4075 and do as from the South.

By Air - Birmingham International Airport is about an hour away from Cheltenham by car.

Taxi - Getting a taxi from Cheltenham Spa Railway Station to Whaddon Road will cost about £8.50 and shouldn’t take much longer than ten minutes.

Parking Near Whaddon Road

There is very limited parking at the ground itself and on-street parking is also tricky. Your best bet might be a public car park in Cheltenham centre and a walk out to the ground.

Useful Resources

Whaddon Road Hotels

Cheltenham is home to one of the country’s most famous racecourses, so the town is used to welcoming plenty of strangers on a regular basis. Here are some of the choicest hotels around:

London Inn Cheltenham - £65+

195 London Road, Chartlon Kings, Cheltenham, GL52 6HU
This pleasant 3-star Inn is about a mile to the LCI Rail Stadium and offers a bar and lounge area, a meeting room, free breakfast, free Wi-Fi in the reception area and free parking. More details.

Holiday Inn Express Cheltenham - £75+

Dunalley Street, Cheltenham, GL50 4AP
Smack in the heart of Cheltenham is this 3-star hotel with over 100 rooms and a conference centre. It’s just over half a mile from the ground and offers a free buffet for breakfast as well as free Wi-Fi and several meeting rooms. More details.

Bell Hotel Cheltenham - £85+

Church Street, Tewkesbury, GL20 5SA
The Bell Hotel is a little bit further afield than our other two choices at about seven miles in nearby Tewksbury. It’s worth the travel, though, with a nice garden, a restaurant, a bar, a meeting room and free parking. There’s also a free English breakfast included in the price as well as free Wi-Fi in the reception. More details.

Pubs & Bars Near Whaddon Road

Cheltenham is an interesting place to go for a drink, with plenty of colourful locals more than happy to tell you about their past. Here are some of our favourite pre-match pint destinations:

The Frog & Fiddle

313-315 High Street, Cheltenham, GL50 3HW (01242 701 156)
This amusingly named pub boasts fourteen screens to show live sport on, a number of pool tables and loads of decent drinking options. There’s also a cracking beer garden when the weather is favourable.

Tailors Eating House

4 Cambray Place, Cheltenham, GL50 1JS (01242 255 453)
Tailors has got two big screens, five plasma screens and nine televisions, so it’s fair to say they’re all about showing live sport! The menu is great and there are plenty of real ale options, too.

The Brown Jug

242 Bath Road, Cheltenham, GL53 7NB (01242 521 736)
With a brilliant menu to choose from, real ales and loads of wines on offer and, of course, TVs for the live sport, The Brown Jug is one of the best places to go in Cheltenham for a couple of jars before you head to the ground.

Facilities

With a couple of the stands being built reasonably recently the facilities aren’t bad. You can buy food, drink and other things before the game and the views of the action are generally quite good.

Prices

  • Programme: 3.00
  • Pie: 3.20
  • Cup of tea: 2.00

Hospitality

Cheltenham Town offer a match day hospitality experience that includes a pre-match two-course meal by an award winning chef, seats directly outside your private box, and half time refreshments. Alternatively you can dine in the Steve Roberts Sponsorship Suite which comes with a lot of the same, plus a match day host to look after you.

Private Hire

Parts of Whaddon Road Stadium are available for private hire, with numerous function rooms and suites useable for private parties, conferences, corporate activities and more. If you’ve got an event to put on in Cheltenham then this will be one of your first ports of call.

Stadium Tours & Museum

There is no official tour of the stadium at the time of writing, however Cheltenham Town do occasionally run youth team days that include a tour as well as the chance for the team to train on the pitch.

About Cheltenham Town

Cheltenham Town vs Crewe Alexandra, League Two play-off final at Wembley Stadium in 2012 - Paul Wilkinson / Flickr.com

Though the club as it is known now was formed in 1887, the town of Cheltenham actually has a rich history of football prior to that. In fact, the first ever use of three match officials was recorded in Cheltenham in 1849. The Robins spent the first thirty years of their existence mainly playing local football, with well-known cricketers also running out for the team. Cheltenham first gained promotion to the Football League in 1999.

Arguably the most successful manager in the Robins’ history was Steve Cotteril, the manager that took them up until the Football League just before the start of the new millennium. In 2002 he departed to join Stoke City and was replaced by the first-team coach, Graham Allner, who was sacked by January of 2003. The club won the FA Trophy under Cotteril in 1998 and, as the treatment of Allner showed, the club have struggled to replace the Englishman ever since.

Whaddon Road History

The old visitor's stand at Whaddon Road - Steve Daniels [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Whaddon Road was built on the site of The Berkeley Hunt kennels by the Cheltenham Original Brewery in 1927. Cheltenham Town moved in there in 1932 but it didn’t actually host senior football until 1999. The club celebrated their 70th anniversary at the ground by gaining promotion to the Football League for the first time.

As well as Cheltenham Town and, up until 2017, Gloucester City games, Whaddon Road has also hosted a couple of international matches over the years. In 1939 the England Amateur side beat their Welsh equivalents by five goals to two in the stadium. In 1993 the England Semi-Pro side won 2-1 against the Wales Semi-Pro side there. In 2011 the England Under-16 side completed the international hat-trick by winning 4-0 against Wales’ Under-16 lads. Sadly it wasn’t all wins, with the England Under-17s losing 2-1 to Italy in 2005.

Future Developments

bevkevtrev / Flickr.com

There are no major developments planned for the ground in the foreseeable future, although the waste land behind the ground would be an ideal spot for an academy or training ground should they ever have the money to build one.

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