Almost 60,000 people are expected to attend two huge concerts at Ashton Gate Stadium this weekend, starring Take That, supported by Olly Murs.
The Manchester 90s boy-band are performing two nights running at the home of Bristol Sport on Saturday night (June 8) and Sunday night (June 9), as part of their This Life tour. Saturday night’s show is already sold out, but there are still a limited number of resale tickets left for Sunday night’s show.
For the around 30,000 fans attending each night, and for the residents living around Ashton Gate, here is our complete guide to the timings, road closures, travel and what to expect once you are inside.
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Take That last performed at Ashton Gate as part of the 2019 Summer Series of concerts that established the recently rebuilt new stadium’s status as the South West’s biggest music venue. Now, the Manchester trio of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen, are back and this time – after the Saturday show sold out within minutes – a second Sunday show has been added too.
The pitch has been covered, the stage has been built and fans will start arriving in BS3 on the afternoon of each day. Here’s the timings…
Timings
- 3pm – Ashton Road, the main road on the north side of the stadium alongside Greville Smyth Park, will close from its junction with Duckmoor Road. At the same time, the box office on the southwest corner of the stadium area, off Wedlock Way, will open, and so will the gates to the Fan Village and indoor stadium concourse.
- Once fans are through the outer ticket and security checks, they can roam around the inside and outside of the stadium’s concourse ares, where there are bars, loads of street food stalls and merchandise.
- 5pm – The stadium bowl itself will open, giving fans access to their seats or, if they have standing tickets on the pitch, they can head there too.
- 7.15pm – The concert starts. The support act for the tour is singer Olly Murs. The timings for when both Olly and then Take That will take the stage have not yet been confirmed, and probably won’t be until just before the shows.
- 9pm – With everyone inside (hopefully) and the concert in full swing, the main Winterstoke Road will close for around half its length, from the Brunel Way interchange the turn off to Ashton Vale at the Robins pub. This will enable coaches to line up along it.
- 10.30pm – The concert is scheduled to end – again this might change, and could over-run a bit.
- 11pm – The bars finally close
- Midnight – The Stadium closes and Winterstoke Road reopens
- 2am – Ashton Road reopens
Road closures
As stated, Ashton Road will close from 3pm on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and will reopen at 2am. This will mean drivers can’t head across the north of the stadium and access North Street from Winterstoke Road.
Winterstoke Road itself will close at 9pm, once the concert is underway. It also means Barons Close and Wedlock Way will close, giving no vehicular access to the South Bristol Retail Park, or the roads off Winterstoke Road into Ashton.
Security
If you are attending the gig, then there is a list of things you can’t take in.
For a start, big bags – bigger than A4 paper size – won’t be allowed, and after that, the list of banned items is as follows:
- Glass, cans, bottles or thermos flasks of any kind
- Flammable liquids and aerosols (including perfume, hairspray etc)
- Laser pens/pointers
- Laptops, Ipads, professional cameras/video equipment
- Food and drink, unless for medicinal purposes
- Signs, banners, flags, inflatables, selfie sticks
- Air horns, whistles or other noise making devices
- Knives or weapons, fireworks, confetti, glitter bombs or sprays
- Your own alcohol
- Drones
You’re also not allowed to take professional cameras inside – and that usually means anything with a detachable lens.
So you’re not allowed to take in your own food – what will you eat?
Eating at Ashton Gate
The bars and food trucks in the Fan Village are pretty varied, but there are often long queues for them at the busiest times. The Fan Village occupies the area outside the Lansdown Stand and South Stand, spreading out from the corner. The inner concourse has in-house bars and food places, and runs in a horseshoe shape all the way round from the Dolman Stand to the end of the Lansdown Stand.
Outside in the Fan Village will be the Bristol Beer Factory and the Thatchers Bar, then street food vendors doing burgers, pulled pork, fish and chips, chicken skewers, and hog roasts, along with the Six O’Clock Gin Bar and an Aperol and Cocktail Bar.
Inside, Ashton Gate’s own bars have a range of crisps, sweets, pasties, hot dogs, vegan hot dogs and nachos.
One thing to remember is that the entire site is cashless. There are no cash machines, you can’t spend cash money anyway – everything has to be by card or contactless.
Outside the stadium
Immediately next to the stadium on Winterstoke Road is the South Bristol Retail Park, which includes a KFC, Costa and a B&M shop, and there’s a big Sainsbury’s a short walk south away from the stadium down that main road.
On the city centre side of the stadium, on Ashton Road and round the corner into North Street, there is a huge range of great bars, pubs and restaurants, including the country’s first ever Lounge. While every other Lounge bar and restaurant in every town and city has a different name, the one in Ashton is just called The Lounge.
Travel information
Coaches and park and ride buses are coming from all over the south west to get to Ashton Gate. If you’ve not booked the shuttle bus yet, then it’s too late – all the shuttle buses from Bristol’s various Park and Ride facilities have sold out already.
If you do have a coach or shuttle bus ticket, it’ll leave from various locations along Winterstoke Road, and the departure points are signposted as you leave by KFC.
If you are thinking of driving to Ashton Gate, then don’t do that either. Parking in the streets around the stadium won’t be allowed with a temporary Residents Parking Scheme in operation, but there could be private car parking locations around the stadium in operation. Remember, though, the two main roads around the stadium will be closed afterwards.
There are regular buses that go past or near to Ashton Gate from the city centre and Temple Meads station. Parson Street station – two stops south of Temple Meads on the Weston-super-Mare line – is a 15-minute walk from the stadium.