Stadium Expansion - Bushey Hall

Discussion in 'The Hornets' Nest - Watford Chat' started by Stevohorn, Jul 13, 2019.

?

For or against a new stadium at Bushey (see post #558)

  1. For

    102 vote(s)
    59.0%
  2. Against

    71 vote(s)
    41.0%
  1. lm_wfc

    lm_wfc First Team

    Very optimistic. My money is on 狡猾的博彩.bet arena.
     
  2. RookeryLad

    RookeryLad Reservist

    Get it built Watford FC.

    Vicarage Road is, even with the recent improvements, miles behind what a good stadium need to be.

    Access to and from the ground is poor - occupation road is a slow crawling mess after games.
    Facilities are awful - save for the new restaurants - few decent bar areas that you would want to use.
    Both the SEJ and GT stands are exposed to the elements along part of the concourses.
    A number of seats in the GT are below the pitch.
    The design of the stands has often been blamed on not holding the noise in.
    The Vic Road end is a disgrace in terms of facilities.
    Segregation is not ideal - especially for cup games.

    Yes Vicarage Road holds memories and nostalgia but to progress and move the club on it needs a bespoke, modern, fit for purpose stadium.

    I have been to Spurs ground and the facilities for fans in “normal areas” are sensational. Atmosphere is great there as well - a real step on from the bowl like stadiums many on here seem to get their knickers in a twist over.

    Get it done Watford, for the good of the club.
     
  3. 3000

    3000 Reservist

    I reckon I’d start losing interest when we descend into the Bushey Hornets basket case.
     
    iamofwfc and lutonh8a like this.
  4. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    The reason we see empty seats at Vicarage Road is not down to lack of demand, it’s because lots of our fans can afford to buy season tickets and not go to all the games.
     
    iamofwfc and Leighton Buzzer like this.
  5. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    I wasn’t blown away by Spurs’ stadium to be honest. I agree the design is excellent compared to the likes of St Mary’s but the facilities in the away section didn’t seem that special and the atmosphere certainly wasn’t “great” given its size, but I suppose that’s down to the Spurs fans.
     
    Banjo likes this.
  6. wfcmoog

    wfcmoog Tinpot

    ****. Thanks for ruining my weekend.
     
    BeeJayWhy likes this.
  7. USAHornet

    USAHornet Academy Graduate

    Funny, I've been thinking about nostalgia, history and so on, but this is a pretty good, honest assessment of why a move might make sense.

    The reality is that adding on all the other things to a new ground - conference facilities, hotel, bars/restaurants/etc., will all help make more money for the club if done properly. Clearly there's benefit to that, even if it feels uncomfortable.

    It then comes down to the quality of the design. Something that holds in the noise and feels full even if it's not, something that is visually interesting, something that feels like it fits with our culture and identity. I find the drawings pretty unattractive, but I'm also convinced they are nothing more than someone picking up a sketchpad. I have to imagine the final design is going to be a lot like Southampton, Leicester, Hull and others.
     
    Supertommymooney likes this.
  8. Agreed about Spurs. The thing I really disliked was the shallow slope of the lower seats; like Wembley, and the Emirates. Why do they do this, anybody have any idea?
     
  9. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    AAAGH!
     
  10. Sahorn

    Sahorn Reservist

    It’s only Friday!
    But Filbert and Lesta may help with that.
    I’ll pass on your good wishes to Gino.
     
  11. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    Last edited: Jun 22, 2020
  12. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    Supertommymooney and wfc4ever like this.
  13. The Voice of Reason

    The Voice of Reason First Team Captain

    The NIMBY's are out in force and I bet there are so called WFC fans amongst them too :p
     
  14. Bwood_Horn

    Bwood_Horn Squad Player

    Bushey's in Hertsmere so it's 'weathervane' Dowden plus the borough council, judging by how it 'runs' (other descriptions are available) Elstree Studios, is very business minded/friendly (aka Tory safe seats). I wonder if the move is more due to getting to a better 'political' environment than a fan-friendly environment - planning permission is down to HBC?
     
  15. hornetboy1

    hornetboy1 First Team Captain

    It's no surprise. There will always be objections to a football stadium being built, no matter which site you choose. There's objections when we try to modify Vicarage Road. It's normal.

    The good thing is that it must mean the process is well under way, for a petition to even exist. For me that's a good sign.

    The choice for Bushey residents would be new a housing estate or a football stadium. The green-belt aspect doesn't hold the weight it used to. It's often waived when it's convenient for building projects. That's progress. That land is sitting idle. As a golf course it was a failing business, so if the residents appreciated it so much, they should have supported it, but didn't.
     
  16. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    A golf course only ever benefits very few (often a privileged few) people for the amount of land it uses, so not many of the local residents would ever have used it. A different green space in the form of a park or nature reserve would benefit many more and be preferable to most.

    However if the area is to be built on, which of the options of housing estate, shopping park or football stadium is preferable is a moot point.
     
  17. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    In an ideal world the Green Belt needs preservation and indeed around other connurbations. The concept of the garden city espoused by Ebenezer Howard is also going to fail if this sprawl is not contained. Ideally long term managed depopulation is what the world will have to accept. So it's a hard one for me on one level to accept. That said if Vicarage Road is sold perhaps WGH can be redeveloped on the site with a small section left as an urban mini park.

    As I have written on another thread The Graham Taylor Arena sponsored by ...... sounds nice to me.

    With the Luther Blissett and Cliff Holton stands and two ends. One perhaps the New Rookery and the other after SEJ or another illustrious player.
     
    Supertommymooney likes this.
  18. Zagreb

    Zagreb Academy Graduate

    That Spurs stadium is very impressive, Ive been to most of the European stadiums and its one of the best. (Not been to BVB, thats next on my list.)
     
  19. ForzaWatford

    ForzaWatford Squad Player

    I'm not from Watford so I'm not as familiar with it as most people on here will be, but for me one of the beauties of the Vic is the walk from Watford Junction and then to town and the closeness of that. The walk from WJ there would be just through residential areas wouldn't it and the walk from town would be twice as long. You couldn't go and have lunch, or go to the pub or have a wonder around the harlequin as easily, which for me as stupid as it sounds is a big part of matchday.
     
  20. UEA_Hornet

    UEA_Hornet First Team Captain

    It's only about a third of a mile more but yes I guess if you swing along the High Street it'd add a bit.
     
  21. FromDiv4

    FromDiv4 Reservist

    Likely to only be 5 minutes more walking from the town, so not really significant to stop you doing anything.
     
  22. A genuine bonafide electrified 6 car monorail from the high street to the new stadium should solve those objections
     
  23. scummybear

    scummybear Reservist

    New stadium discussions + being furloughed = Way too detailed stadium doodle.

    Here's my take on how they could arrange the site, based on their published renderings and existing infrastructure. An extra pedestrian gate would be nice, but otherwise I think it works quite nicely.

    [​IMG]Watford-Site Plan, on Flickr

    FYI every line is hand drawn, so there may be some ****-ups.
     
    Smudger, lm_wfc, Zagreb and 5 others like this.
  24. Why have paedophiles got their own gate?
     
  25. scummybear

    scummybear Reservist

    In case we draw them in the cup.
     
    Knight GT likes this.
  26. Abso

    Abso First Year Pro

    would you rather them have a park?
     
  27. Zagreb

    Zagreb Academy Graduate

    A design proposal might be to build an airport style travelator from The Junction right up to the bar in the ground. They could employ ex-olympic volunteers to hand out pints to the travelate-ing fans like they do in the London Marathon.
     
  28. Diamond

    Diamond First Team

    I'm against it. Where the ground is now is perfect for people to come in from all sides, either walking, by car or public transport. From where I live I can comfortably walk if I wish. The new location offers me no reliable transport links in to Watford, is too far to walk and parking will become hellish. The same scenario for the thousands who travel from my side of the ground.

    It'll be a white elephant.
     
    Hogg-DEENEY!!! likes this.
  29. The Voice of Reason

    The Voice of Reason First Team Captain

    I don't know what the opposite to a NIMBY is, but you are it :D
     
  30. K9 Hornet

    K9 Hornet Border Collie Dog

    I'm going to go out on a limb and say IMBY
     
  31. Hogg-DEENEY!!!

    Hogg-DEENEY!!! Squad Player

    Would be risky enough if we were the established Premier League team we were beginning to look like last season, but if we go down? We hardly got 20k in even towards the end of the promotion season...
    Obviously some of that will be the away fans, which is one thing we could make bigger if we move, but doesn't that prove the point further?
     
  32. AndrewH63

    AndrewH63 Reservist

    A few key things about the practicalities, one is the Arup green belt assessment for Hertsmere. From that I think the golf course is definitively in play for redevelopment. So if the initial talks confirm an in principle agreement to development, then the discussions will move on to sustainable transportation plan. A factor that again plays in, is Hertfordshire County Council proposal to build a Park and Ride car park at Junction 5. I presume on that long piece of land between the M1 and A41. That car park would include a bus shuttle to Watford town centre and Clarendon Road business area. They are already planning to reduce Clarendon Road as a car route and want to reduce car parking space within office development. Easy to use it to take people to the stadium, as matches will be basically outside core business hours. It would provide extra income for the park and ride operation, (presumably free to ticket holders, but paid by the club).

    if the proposal includes access to a public open space on site, then that mitigates the build too. As a private space becomes a public park. If Hertsmere was really cute, they would require the plan to include a replacement for Bushey Grove leisure centre within the development of the golf course. They could then sell the current leisure centre site for housing. They get a new park, a brand new leisure centre, a cash receipt for selling the Bushey Grove site, and new housing toward their government set target of 400 new homes a year.
     
    brumhorn likes this.
  33. Otter

    Otter Gambling industry insider

    Bushey Grove leisure centre isn't all that old.
     
  34. scummybear

    scummybear Reservist

    Whilst I like the location of Vicarage Road, it's certainly not perfect for people coming by car! We actually park the other side of the river, a longer walk but avoid the bulk of traffic. We used to park closer, in the Holywell, and it's absolute carnage coming in and going out.

    Public transport is alright, it would've been better had they opened the hospital station they were on about - Watford Junction is a long walk for some.

    Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk
     
  35. Moosegasm

    Moosegasm Reservist

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