Sponsored by - S Rodgers, J Goodwin, B Millburn, PC Lettings, NSC, S Leonard, Give ‘em Beans, NSC & Surrey Barrovian

[spirit of 1990]

The two final parts of the segregation fence that is replacing all of the plastic fences.
The top and middle sections are now finished and the work goes on on the bottom section. All parts will be prepped ready for painting, in the same way as the pop side barriers were so at it will all match what is already in place.

[spirit of 1990]

This is the pop side food hut that has never been used, the club have asked us to move it to the garage corner although it’s proving to be harder than we all thought it would be. Originally a crane was to be hired to move it but the company aren’t sure how safe that would be. We then thought it would be a fairly easy job of taking it apart and re-assembling it in the corner….the hut though is a far better built one than we thought, the weather then eventually stopped any more work on it. That’s now on hold till we come up with another plan.

Thanks (as always) to Elaine and Marion for keeping us all fed and watered.

[Holkerbird]

I am sure the people who work in that food hut will appreciate the improvements made if only to ensure their safety from the electrical hazards.

[Alley_Cat]

Superb effort everyone, it’s great to catch up with progress from many miles away

[Jonty]

I know there’s not much else can be done with it at this moment but what a state that HS away corner is. The club should reconsider any seat plans for the Crossbar end and focus solely on getting rid of all that segregation and returning the full terrace to Barrow fans. Any new seats to the side of the existing main stand and make it the away fans allocation. It can be a separate block that is aesthetically joined on the roof line and across the back, stairwell between.
I know there’s not much else can be done with it.

[bluessupporter]

I know there’s not much else can be done with it at this moment but what a state that HS away corner is. The club should reconsider any seat plans for the Crossbar end and focus solely on getting rid of all that segregation and returning the full terrace to Barrow fans. Any new seats to the side of the existing main stand and make it the away fans allocation. It can be a separate block that is aesthetically joined on the roof line and across the back, stairwell between.
I know there’s not much else can be done with it.

I think the original idea to get 2000 seats was to extend either end of the stand - 500ish at each end. That would make sense with the end by HS being allocated to visiting fans, with their terrace being where it is now.

[Jonty]

It is the best option. The cheapest / easiest would be to seat the entire HSE and you’d be there or there a-bouts seat number wise but before I get beaten up for it I know that is not the fans choice and I know that doesn’t solve where to put away fans.
I just think it’s not feasible to do anything with the crossbar end for now when the urgent need is to sort out the other end. Two blocks either end of the main stand but at the same height and rake and joined up roof line to keep it all the same. The last thing we need is more restricted views. If they can’t do it properly we need to think that the ground is no longer fit for where the club wants to be. Also appreciate costs factor heavily in the decision making.

[Holkerbird]

This is just the same old same old. Going round in circles.
There is nothing the GMVers can do regarding the installation of extra seating and the topic has been discussed many times on the forum.
Opinions and ideas are best discussed with the board/ owners who are the people with the authority to carry out any plans.

[M6 BLUE]

This is just the same old same old. Going round in circles.
There is nothing the GMVers can do regarding the installation of extra seating and the topic has been discussed many times on the forum.
Opinions and ideas are best discussed with the board/ owners who are the people with the authority to carry out any plans.

Well i think the least the owners could do would be to at least announce what their current thinking is as the clock is now seriously ticking towards the deadline day and the fact that no planning applications appear to have gone in makes it look suspiciously like whatever they have planned
is going to be of nothing but a couple of temporary solutions.

[Jonty]

It goes round in circles because the club have never given fans an update so there’s always speculation. It’s possibly more significant than any development they’ve done to date.
It happened to get mentioned on here because the segregation and HSE corner is clearly not the solution for away fans and the GMV spend a lot of time installing more mesh and barriers.

Agree the clock is ticking on this one.

[McMark]

Could be the recyclable option;
https://youtu.be/zyoonLZCb-A
Would take a very big box though!

[M6 BLUE]

This is just the same old same old. Going round in circles.
There is nothing the GMVers can do regarding the installation of extra seating and the topic has been discussed many times on the forum.
Opinions and ideas are best discussed with the board/ owners who are the people with the authority to carry out any plans.

Well i think the least the owners could do would be to at least announce what their current thinking is as the clock is now seriously ticking towards the deadline day and the fact that no planning applications appear to have gone in makes it look suspiciously like whatever they have planned
is going to be of nothing but a couple of temporary solutions.

If they don't have the cash or the ability/inclination to borrow it if i was them i think i.d go for using the grant money and what they can afford to build a six row stand across the middle 80% of the crossbar end and then a temporary 500 seater stand in the corner between the main stand and the Holker End that would give them enough seats to meet the regulations and to then take the abortion seats out of that end increasing the standing capacity for away fans which when added to the 500 new seats over a season would generate the extra income to pay the rental on the Temporary seats or better still loan the money to buy it and meet the repayments from the increased income at least that way at the end of its use you have something to sell for which there is always a market.

But if i was really serious i would build two new identical stands at either end of the main stand and then once they were complete and open in the following close season demolish the existing stand and replace it with a link between the two newly built stands to exactly the same design/specifications then demolish the temporary internal walls and link the roof to achieve one complete new stand. Not a cheap option but not a ridiculous fantasy scheme either but doing that would give you a whole raft of new facilities underneath it which if you talk to Andy Holt at Accy he will tell you that since their new hospitality facilities opened they now take 6 times what they used to and he's confident that once the facilities get established and people book them for events during the rest of the week that figure will rise to a multiple of 10 and there's absolutely no reason similar facilities built into the new stands at Holker St couldn't generate the same sort of cash. Then the crossbar building could be repurposed and let out as say offices or as say a nursery to generate even more income.

[M6 BLUE]

It is the best option. The cheapest / easiest would be to seat the entire HSE and you’d be there or there a-bouts seat number wise but before I get beaten up for it I know that is not the fans choice and I know that doesn’t solve where to put away fans.
I just think it’s not feasible to do anything with the crossbar end for now when the urgent need is to sort out the other end. Two blocks either end of the main stand but at the same height and rake and joined up roof line to keep it all the same. The last thing we need is more restricted views. If they can’t do it properly we need to think that the ground is no longer fit for where the club wants to be. Also appreciate costs factor heavily in the decision making.

If you just seated the Holker End you would just about get to the 2k seats but i.d be pretty sure the overall capacity would then drop below the 5k thats needed and would not increase the away capacity which is vital as thats what will eventually pay for whatever they do.

Simple maths really increase the away capacity to 1500 and over a season attract an extra 20k away fans and you're looking at an extra 250k in the bank each year enough to meet the repayments on a loan taken out to build the new facilities.

[Jonty]

Having 1500 away fans at Barrow would be a logistical / planning nightmare. I just don’t think the club could cope. I think having segregation currently in the HSE is also a headache for the club and added to that there’s not one away fan comes away without saying it’s the worst away experience in the league.

Something has to change.

it remains to be seen what the club do. Every option provides a logistical / planning headache. Given that there is a new housing estate planned for the land across the road behind the Main-stand, getting any permanent structure of significance through planning will be a nightmare (right to light and all that)
I suspect we will go down the cheapest and easiest option to get through planning and get it done. Ie some sort of temporary structure.

[AFC Blue]

Probably needs it's own thread this Jonty.
It worries me too that we will default on the timescale.