Our second visit to Colchester United’s new stadium in five months 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! They now have planning permission to build a new junction from the A12 by the stadium, but so far this hasn’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 are 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. There is a layby on the A12 right behind the main stand and last year I saw someone get dropped off here and scramble up the bank to the stadium, but this option obviously needs a certain amount co-operation from someone who isn’t going to the match!   

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 once again there is engineering work and you’ll have to get off the train at Witham 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 one 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 last 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!).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. One important thing to note is that they have now switched the away section to the North stand (the one by the A12), the opposite end to last season’s main visitors accommodation.  

The usual visitors allocation is 1,900, but thankfully our hosts have again been generous enough to give us some extra sections of the ground, as they did last season. Last time 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 last season 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”. 

There are few tickets going on sale to Leeds supporters at Colchester’s stadium from noon tomorrow, as there has been “plenty of interest from locally based Leeds supporters”. These tickets will go on a first come, first served basis. Home tickets have been on general sale since Monday, but they are also close to selling out. Ticket prices are £18 for adults, with concessions (senior citizens and under 18's) at £10 or £13.  

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

Photo: Action Images

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