The 1000 extra seats required.

[Peaceful Grecian]

What's the official capacity of the Cross Bar end? I wonder if that wall behind were to be demolished that a new, small stand running the width of the pitch (flanking the tunnel) could just about squeeze in.

The result wouldn't be too dissimilar to what we have at St James Park (our gap is for emergency vehicle access). For context, that stand fits 1,010 people standing, seated capacity would probably be a fair bit lower. I imagine a four-step seated stand (as exists at the Bury phoenix club and linked in a previous post) would result in a net of 600 seats being added. If the gap between the Cross Bar and the pitch can only fit three rows of seating, it would still add about 450 seats, which would still go a long way to meeting EFL requirements. This is based on the Holker Street End (hypothetically) having room for 845 additional (or 975 in total) seats with 7 rows, with that stand not running quite the full width of the pitch itself and having to skip some seats because of the stanchions. If the Holker Street End was then done to half way with seats (for away fans only) I think that would be 1,000 extra in total.

[Lancaster Branch]

At the moment capacity is zero, save for the club staff who stand there, the stewards by the tunnel and the disabled shelter.

[Peaceful Grecian]

At the moment capacity is zero, save for the club staff who stand there, the stewards by the tunnel and the disabled shelter.

That's useful then, because it means that any seats there wouldn't come at the cost of overall capacity.

[Sea Dog Sam]

Holker street is class been to many of worse modern grounds. You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone

Can you name them?

[Sea Dog Sam]

Would it be possible to build over part of the fan zone creating a concourse under the stand?

Surely worth exploring further, Good idea, Especially if it could be built piecemeal ie as above then sometime in future demolish the cross bar & add the next section of the stand & build the shops bars offices an other underneath in 2 or 3 phases.

Shops, bars, offices? Who gives a f**k?
Bulldoze the CrossBar Building and the Fan Zone - and install terracing/seats and designate it as The Away End. Simple - but maybe not practical at the moment. That will generate more cash - from away ticket sales - than any burger van or tin pot beer outlet.

[Jonty]

Surely worth exploring further, Good idea, Especially if it could be built piecemeal ie as above then sometime in future demolish the cross bar & add the next section of the stand & build the shops bars offices an other underneath in 2 or 3 phases.

Shops, bars, offices? Who gives a f**k?
Bulldoze the CrossBar Building and the Fan Zone - and install terracing/seats and designate it as The Away End. Simple - but maybe not practical at the moment. That will generate more cash - from away ticket sales - than any burger van or tin pot beer outlet.

Ideally the whole Crossbar building comes down and it is built from scratch and all those things get integrated in a new stand. Problem is the whole club operates from that building on match day so we would have to install temporary change-rooms / offices etc on the west terrace space first before knocking it down. All doable but the more we keep patching that end up and putting money into it the less likely it is we will bulldoze it. Its like the old car that keeps failing its MoT and you fix that suspension one more time. When do you turn around and say it’s served its useful purpose.

[Sea Dog Sam]

Agree.

[litefoot]

Shops, bars, offices? Who gives a f**k?
Bulldoze the CrossBar Building and the Fan Zone - and install terracing/seats and designate it as The Away End. Simple - but maybe not practical at the moment. That will generate more cash - from away ticket sales - than any burger van or tin pot beer outlet.

Ideally the whole Crossbar building comes down and it is built from scratch and all those things get integrated in a new stand. Problem is the whole club operates from that building on match day so we would have to install temporary change-rooms / offices etc on the west terrace space first before knocking it down. All doable but the more we keep patching that end up and putting money into it the less likely it is we will bulldoze it. Its like the old car that keeps failing its MoT and you fix that suspension one more time. When do you turn around and say it’s served its useful purpose.

You should be able to build a new end over the close season - Notts County did three over a summer and Swindon built the South Stand (the one opposite to the one your fans were sat in) over a summer, and that including completely demolishing the previous stand and terracing (plus it's got a row of trees behind it which hampered the access). You could move out any offices in the Crossbar and put up portakabins elsewhere (next to the Main Stand?) and decant the running of the club into those before the end of the season.

Or, would it be cheaper to demolish the current Main Stand and replace it with a full length one (could you even get in a small terrace in front?) You should be able to get 2,000 seats in that, and if you segregated it, make that the away allocation (i.e. no standing), letting you give the HSE back to home fans, without the seats and segregation. Or make the current seated section the away standing and give the current away standing over to home fans.

[Jonty]

All good points but it’s all down to the £ and unless we get other investors on board we have to do what we can afford.

[MisterPleasant]

Or, would it be cheaper to demolish the current Main Stand and replace it with a full length one (could you even get in a small terrace in front?) You should be able to get 2,000 seats in that, and if you segregated it, make that the away allocation (i.e. no standing), letting you give the HSE back to home fans, without the seats and segregation. Or make the current seated section the away standing and give the current away standing over to home fans.

Ahh, the good old days. There used to be such a terrace (the Paddock) in front of the old wooden stand back in the 60s. And then came the speedway...

[Bigfathoss]

Shops, bars, offices? Who gives a f**k?
Bulldoze the CrossBar Building and the Fan Zone - and install terracing/seats and designate it as The Away End. Simple - but maybe not practical at the moment. That will generate more cash - from away ticket sales - than any burger van or tin pot beer outlet.

Would it though? Are we seeing that a large number of away fans have tried to get tickets but have had to go without? Have we seen a run of near-capacity crowds? Until we are turning away serious money because of ticket sales then any outlay on the Crossbar End is going to be dead money.
From what I have seen, the Fanzone and Crossbar have been doing great business this season.

[boyliegladbach]

Be good to hear off one of owners on what the plans are, and the time scales.
Heard rumours we will ask to start season with away games.

Nver hear anything off club these day, levi was last one to regular update fans. Since he left, near silence.

[blue nige]

Or, would it be cheaper to demolish the current Main Stand and replace it with a full length one (could you even get in a small terrace in front?) You should be able to get 2,000 seats in that, and if you segregated it, make that the away allocation (i.e. no standing), letting you give the HSE back to home fans, without the seats and segregation. Or make the current seated section the away standing and give the current away standing over to home fans.

Ahh, the good old days. There used to be such a terrace (the Paddock) in front of the old wooden stand back in the 60s. And then came the speedway...

That paddock was still there after the speedway!

[Jonty]

Be good to hear off one of owners on what the plans are, and the time scales.
Heard rumours we will ask to start season with away games.

Nver hear anything off club these day, levi was last one to regular update fans. Since he left, near silence.

News on this must be imminent, league survival will have been the trigger to press the “go” button. An update from the Trust rep on the board who I believe has been leading with this would be welcomed.