Our first visit to Colchester United’s new stadium is on Saturday, with a 3pm kick-off.

Colchester United’s new ‘Weston Homes Community Stadium’ is on the northern edge of the town, but while out-of-town grounds are supposed to be convenient for the motorist, they haven’t yet managed to provide good access by car or much in the way of parking.  The stadium’s website says “With the new stadium visible from the A12 .. this is the ideal venue”, but while this is perfectly true, the problem is that you can’t get off the dual carriageway at this point to actually get there! The original plans for the stadium included a new junction and slip roads from the A12, but so far these haven’t been built.

You have to leave the A12 at Junction 29, which is the intersection with the A1232 & A120. (So if you come from the London direction you face the frustration of going right past the stadium and having to double back on yourself). At the roundabout at the end of the slip road take the exit signposted A12 London & Colchester Business Park. Then take the first left into Severalls Industrial Estate and then left again into the Business Park. At the next roundabout turn right into the Crescent and at the next one, turn right into Severalls Lane. At the next roundabout turn left into Axial Way and then straight onto into United Way for the stadium.

There 600 car parking spaces at the stadium which cost £5, but otherwise it’s down to street parking. And you might have to park over a mile away, as there is also an extensive residents only parking scheme in operation around the stadium. Another option is to park at the main railway station and get the special bus service (see below).  After the game, the buses are let out straight away while the other traffic is kept back, so you should make a quick getaway.

Colchester’s main railway station is just under two miles away from the stadium, though to be fair, this is probably no further than it was from here to Layer Road. There is a free shuttle bus service from Bruff Close, and to find it you need to turn left at the end of the station approach turn left and take the second exit at the roundabout. The buses park behind the "Big Yellow" storage facility that you can see from the station.  If you’re travelling via London you’ll have to allow plenty of time for the journey, as unfortunately there is engineering work and you’ll have to get off the train at Billericay for the replacement bus that will take you the rest of the way..

As with all out of town stadia, there is a dearth of decent pubs nearby, and the nearest is for home fans only. But one pub that does admit away fans is the ‘Norfolk Arms’, a Greene King pub close to the station. You’ll find it by turning right at the bottom of the station approach, then crossing the main road and keeping straight on down North Station road. Otherwise, you’ll probably have to head into Colchester town centre.

For 71 years the U’s played their home games at the small but quaint Layer Road ground, but in recent years it was getting rather threadbare, and as it was hemmed in by housing on three sides there was no prospect of building a modernized stadium at that site. So the club had to look elsewhere, and finally moved in to the new ‘Weston Homes Community Stadium’ at the start of the season. It cost around £14m, and the cost was largely met by Colchester Borough Council, who own the stadium, with the football club as tenants.

As with almost other new stadia it’s purely functional and lacks character, but the facilities are pretty good. There is plenty of legroom in the seats, the views are good, and the toilets are spacious and clean (or at least they will be until our mob arrive feeling suitably refreshed!).  The South stand (the usual away end) has a police control box built into the roof, to help the local plod to keep an eye on us. There is the usual standard football ground scoff available from the kiosks on the concourse, and the total stadium capacity is an all-seated 10,000.

As well as the South Stand, our hosts have been generous enough to give us some extra sections of the ground, as a one off for this particular match. This has caused a bit of moaning from the season ticket holders who have had to relocate to other parts of the stadium, obviously from people who thought that Leeds fans should have to miss the game altogether, just because they’ve formed an emotional attachment to their usual seat. Thankfully the club have taken a far more sensible view, and they explained the decision on their official website…

“Following discussions with Leeds and the other relevant safety authorities, Colchester United are intending on providing our visitors with a larger than usual away allocation. All evidence in the lead up to this game suggests that the number of Leeds fans wishing to attend the match will far exceed the tickets available and that visiting supporters would try and obtain tickets for home areas. So we felt it was better to be able to prevent this by giving Leeds extra tickets - something that a large number of League One clubs have done this year”.

The latest news on ticket sales is that the Leeds allocation has sold out, and home tickets “continue to sell well, and are likely to be sold out by the day of the game”. The website didn’t mention any restrictions on who could buy home tickets once they’d gone on general sale, so there may yet be one or two local Leeds fans gracing the home stands with their presence. The crowd is likely to break the stadium record for a league game, which is currently the 8,651 that came to their Essex derby against Southend.  Ticket prices are £20 or £24 for adults, with concessions (senior citizens and under 18's) at £13 or £16.

I’m sure this has the makings of a good day out, and as I missed out on getting a ticket two years ago for the game at Layer Road, I’m very pleased about the increased allocation, and let’s hope they do the same again if we have to come back again next year.

Some of this stuff came from www.footballgroundguide.com.

Photo: Action Images

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