Stadium Redevelopment
The Memorial Stadium Company proposed a wide ranging £35 million refurbishment of the Memorial Stadium, bringing it up to an 18,500 all-seater capacity. On 17 January 2007, Bristol City Council granted permission for the stadium redevelopment.
The new stadium will include:
- A 97-room hotel
- 99 student flats
- A restaurant
- A convenience store
- Offices
- A Public Gym
On 17 August 2007, it was announced that the stadium's redevelopment had been delayed and would commence in May 2008 and finish in December 2009. During this time period of reconstruction, Bristol Rovers will ground share with Cheltenham Town Football Club. The Section 106 legal agreement, which was the main cause for the delay in the redevelopment, was finally signed on 4 January 2008, but more delays were encountered when on 30 May 2008 Rovers admitted that their preferred student accommodation providers had pulled out of the project, leaving the club to find an alternative company. This caused the redevelopment to be put back another year, to 2009. More delays, mostly attributed to the ongoing financial crisis, mean that as of 2011, the stadium redevelopment has yet to begin.
In June 2011, Bristol Rovers announced its intentions to relocate the club to the newly proposed UWE Stadium instead of redeveloping the Memorial Stadium. In order to fund the new stadium, the Mem is to be sold to supermarket chain Sainsbury's.
Read more about this topic: Memorial Stadium (Bristol)
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