Last Update:
July 26, 2024
The Impact Arena is a small ground that does have a bit of character but seems to have a disproportionate amount of seating for its size. On one side is the small Main Stand that runs for about a two-thirds of the length of the pitch. It is comprised of three small structures, with a small covered seated stand at its centre, with covered standing area the; “Tommie Bradley Terrace” on one side and another small seated area the; ‘Lottie Bradley Hospitality Area” on the other side. There are a number of supporting pillars running across the front of this side. The team dugouts are also located on this side of the pitch.
Opposite is a similar looking covered all seated stand called the Tom McRoy Stand, however, this is around twice the size in terms of length and has more rows of seats. It is unusual that there is no barrier at all between the pitch and the stand.
One end of this stand, the Bentley Close End, is a small seated area that is open to the elements. It looks like that this end was a former terrace that has had seats bolted onto to it. Opposite is a small steep terrace, known as the ‘Tin End’. This has a small covered area at the back towards the centre. There is a noticeable slope to the pitch which runs down from this end to the other. The ground has a set of four modern floodlights.
The Club have announced plans to build a new stand to replace the current Tom McRoy Stand. This development would also see the relocation of the team changing rooms, tunnel etc.. which would make it the new Main Stand at the ground. Both ends will also be redeveloped with new covered terraced stands. No timescales have been given as to when this will happen. A video clip showing a virtual tour around the proposed developments can be viewed on . In the short term the Club intend to put a roof on the Bentley Close End as well as cover the sections of open seating in the Tom McRoy Stand.
Away fans are mostly housed in the mostly open ‘Tin End’ terrace at one end of the ground. This end can accommodate around 1,200 supporters. In addition a small amount of seats are also made available in the covered seating area on one side of the pitch. This area though does have a number of supporting pillars that may impede your view.
At the back of the open terrace there is a small covered area, which can provide some shelter but only for a relatively small number of fans, plus again there are a number of supporting pillars to contend with.
Inside the stadium, there is a bar, but this is for home supporters only. Pubs nearby for away fans include:
- Victoria Inn – 80 Nottingham Rd, Alfreton DE55 7GL
- The Dog House – 32 Nottingham Rd, Alfreton DE55 7HL
- Crossroads Tavern – 100 High St, Alfreton DE55 7HH
Leave the M1 at junction 28 and take the A38 towards Derby. After around two miles leave the A38 and take the B600 towards Alfreton. At the top of the slip road on leaving the A38 turn right along the B600 towards Alfreton Town Centre. After around half a mile you will see a Garage on your right and a modern looking church on your left. Turn left just after the church into North Street. The ground is down the bottom of this street on the right.
For the away turnstiles then fans should continue past North Street and then take the next third left into Alma Street. The away fans entrance is down on the left just before the park.
There is a small car park at the ground, otherwise, there is plenty of street parking.
Alfreton Railway Station is located just under three-quarters a mile away from the ground and is about a 15 minute walk, mainly uphill to the ground. It is served by trains from Nottingham and Chesterfield. Come out of the station entrance and at the main road turn right into Mansfield Road.
Cross the road to the other side and take the second left into Prospect Street. At the bottom of this road turn right into Nottingham Road, then take the first left into North Street and the ground is down on the right.
Alfreton Town ticket prices
- Adults: £15 (all under 16s with a paying adult are free of charge)
- Concessions: £10
- 16-21s: £10
- Students – £10
- 12-15s – £3
Official Programme £3
Matlock Town and Ilkeston Town.
Record Attendance
5,023 v Matlock Town 1960.
Average Attendance
2023-2024: 633 (National League North)
2022-2023: 520 (National League North)
2021-2022: 537 (National League North)
2020-2021: N/A (Covid)
2019-2020: 243 (National League North)
2018-2019: 535 (National League North)
2017-2018: 577Â (National League North)
2016-2017: 547Â (National League North)
If you require hotel accommodation in Alfreton or in the surrounding area then first try a hotel booking service provided by Booking.com. They offer all types of accommodation to suit all tastes and pockets from; Budget Hotels, Traditional Bed & Breakfast establishments to Five Star Hotels and Serviced Apartments. Plus their booking system is straightforward and easy to use. Just input the relevant dates and click on “Search” below or on the hotel of interest on the map to get more information. The map is centered on the football ground. However, you can drag the map around or click on +/- to reveal more hotels in the town centre or further afield.
Official Web Site:Â
www.alfretontownfootballclub.com
If anything is incorrect or you have something to add, please e-mail me at: [email protected] and I’ll update the guide.
Thanks to Owen Pavey for providing the ground layout diagram and photos of the Impact Arena.
Ground Layout
Why were you looking forward to this game and visiting the ground itself?
How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking?
What you did before the game pub/chippy etc, and were the home fans friendly?
What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the stadium?
Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, facilities etc..
Comment on getting away from the ground after the game
Summary of overall thoughts of the day out
Images
Why were you looking forward to this game and visiting the ground itself?
How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking?
What you did before the game pub/chippy etc, and were the home fans friendly?
What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the stadium?
Comment on getting away from the ground after the game
Summary of overall thoughts of the day out
Alfreton Town v Brackley Town
National League North
Saturday 14th March 2020, 3pm
Benji Castledine (Neutral)
Alfreton Town v Spennymoor Town
National League North
Saturday 8th December 2018, 3pm
Jeremy Gold (Neutral)
Why were you looking forward to this game and visiting the Impact Arena?
First visit so another one ticked off in the National League North division.
How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking?
I took the direct train across from Manchester and then the fairly simple 15 minute walk from the railway station to the ground.
What you did before the game pub/chippy etc, and were the home fans friendly?
There’s not much around the ground so headed straight in to have a wander around.
What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the Impact Arena?
It’s a tidy little ground, small in stature but perfectly formed. The Main Stand is an ecliptic mix of standing and seats and the opposite side has a nice little covered seated stand running about three-quarters of the length of the pitch. Both ends are okay as well, one all seated and one terraced with a small covered shelter at the back.
Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, facilities etc..
What can you say about a 7-1 victory for the visitors who in all honesty could have hit double figures. Alfreton Town were clearly lacking in confidence and the absolute deluge that hit most of the first half probably didn’t help them either. The referee did well to keep the game going as the pitch started to suffer after half time with a fair bit of standing water. That contributed to at least one of the visitors' goals although the locals rightly pointed out that the defender should have known better than to try and play a back pass completely on the floor given the conditions. The small group of travelling fans were in full voice throughout the game, the locals mostly voiced their frustrations about their teams record ever home defeat.
Comment on getting away from the ground after the game:
A 250 attendance didn’t create too many issues leaving, a fair few unsurprisingly left a bit before the end as well. A quick jog back to the station in five minutes enabled me to be on the 5.05pm train back to Manchester.
Summary of overall thoughts of the day out:
There doesn’t appear to be much to do in Alfreton, however, I’d recommend a trip to the Impact Arena although I don’t think you will ever see another 7-1 victory for the visitors.
Alfreton Town v Fleetwood Town
FA Cup First Round
Sunday 11th November 2018, 12:45pm
Christopher Smith (Fleetwood Town)
Alfreton Town v Gainsborough Trinity
National League North
Saturday 9th September 2017, 3pm
Brian Scott (Neutral fan)
Alfreton Town v Blyth Spartans
National League North
Saturday 5th August 2017, 3pm
John Hague (Blyth Spartans fan)
Alfreton Town v Luton Town
Saturday April 14th, 2012, 3pm
Conference Premier League
Paul Willott (Luton Town)
On the weekend of FA cup semi-finals, it seemed poignant to recall that in 1994 I travelled to Wembley to watch Luton take on Chelsea in an FA cup semi-final; and here I now was travelling to watch them play at Alfreton, who as recently as 1998 playing in the Northern Counties East league. How the footballing geography can change over the years.
The drive up the M1 was fairly trouble free, and following the directions provided in this guide, I soon found myself a place to ditch my car in a perhaps appropriately named "Preston Avenue", quite close to where the ground nestles.
Alfreton's ground is a far cry from Wembley! If there had been any problems earlier in the season for the little club in dealing with larger crowds, they had cured them by the visit of Luton, as I encountered no hitches either going in or getting out of the ground. I made a bee-line for the covered section of the "tin end" terrace and surveyed the surroundings. What a quaint little ground! I noticed an earlier reference to a sloping pitch ; it almost struck me as though the ground was clinging to the hill-side!
The toilets were certainly primitive and cramped, but the food seemed good from what I heard being said about it by fellow supporters.
The 900 or so Luton fans made plenty of noise, but in truth they had little to shout about as Luton's performance was hardly inspiring. There was a sense of inevitability about the 0 – 0 scoreline and another season in the fifth tier of English football beckoning; but I guess with every cloud comes a silver lining in the shape of more visits to grounds where you can still stand to watch your football, and maybe another couple of train rides on the Severn Valley railway with a football match cheekily slotted in the middle; thats assuming Kidderminster don't succeed where Luton are currently failing of course……..
I quickly returned to my car upon the final whistle and in a trice was heading south down the M1 .
Alfreton Town v Grimsby Town
Saturday January 7th, 2012, 3pm
Conference Premier League
Glynn Sharkey (Grimsby Town fan)
1. Why you were looking forward to going to the ground (or not as the case may be):
This was my first visit to Alfreton and having passed it many a time on the M1 going to various places, I was looking forward to exploring a new ground and town.
2. How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking?
The hour and a bit drive plus a £12 bargain Travelodge room left me and the better half in a good mood and looking forward to the day ahead. From where we were parked on the A38 / A61 roundabout it was a simple 15mins walk into town and the ground was maybe a further 10mins from the town centre.
3. What you did before the game pub/chippy…. home fans friendly?
The Wagon and Horses Wetherspoons looks a bit ropey from the outside but looks are very deceiving and at 10am they serve maybe the best spoons brekky I have had the pleasure of tasting, the same is said for the Sunday lunch we had the next day. This was a good meet up place for arriving mates and we headed off to the King Alfred pub on the High Street, once again a decent pre game boozer.
Further along, the road seems to be named Nottingham Road and there is a cracking place called the Victoria. This did have a sign saying home fans only which I assume is because of the large numbers expected from Grimsby but we got in with no problem. What an excellent real old time pub. Everyone we saw up to now seemed very friendly.
4. What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the ground?
Small, compact, but inviting. The big problem was getting us all in. There were only a couple of turnstiles open for the thousand odd Grimsby supporters that turned up. It did cause frayed tempers outside and it was as bad getting out of the ground as well. The away end is sectioned off in cages which seemed funny as it's Derbyshire non league football not Millwall circa South London in the 60's/70's. But saying all that it does have the feel of a proper old fashioned football ground.
5. Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, toilets etc..
For the size of the ground and size of the crowd the atmosphere was brilliant. Alfreton need to be able to cope with crowds of 2,000 when to be fair they are only used to 700 or 800. They missed a trick as many, many people gave up trying to be served at the refreshment stall. Toilet facilities were woefully inadequate on the day too. The Police seemed very good humoured and helpful but the stewarding in my opinion was, how shall we say, not as good as could be expected. Apart from that well done Alfreton.
6. Comment on getting away from the ground after the game:
As mentioned above, getting out the ground was as much of a nightmare as getting in and thank God there were no injuries, with everyone trying to squeeze out. There were a few local idiots inside the ground who seemed to be trying to provoke trouble but they quickly melted away after the final whistle.
7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out:
We were staying at the Travelodge so did a few pubs and a curry house after the game. We went back to the King Alfred for post match drinkies then called in the Bluebell which was quite lively, the curry house next to the Wagon and horses spoons wasn't too bad but I would give a miss the Devonshire Arms, Miners, and the Swan and Salmon which were all on the way to the Travelodge. All in all a good weekend away, it could and should have been so much better but saying that I would go back with no hesitation. Non league can be rubbish at times, but thanks to places like Alfreton, this not always so.
Alfreton Town v Wrexham
Conference Premier League
Saturday August 27th, 2011, 3pm
Jake Bruce (Wrexham fan)
A short two hour coach trip to Alfreton from North Wales was a decent one. At around noon, as we approached the ground we were stopped by Police just down the road and ushered into a pub (I forget the name of it). It was a nice small pub with pool table, beer garden etc.. Police stood outside the pub while the Wrexhan fans were in there. There was also a chip shop across the road along with a general convenience store but alas the chip shop was closed.
We started to walk up to the ground at around 2:15pm. The stadium was about a 15-20 min walk from the pub and on the way we passed a large Tesco's store. On arrival at the ground, I noticed that as we had expected it was small looking, however stewards were helpful and it was reasonably priced to get in.
Once inside, the first stop was the food bar which served and a very good variety of food and drinks with reasonable prices and quality. Wrexham had around 500 fans in attendance and the stewards were forced to open the center section of the three part terrace which we pretty much filled as well. The home support was low but that we expected and the atmosphere was not great either. However the Wrexham fans did their best to generate some with with singing and a drummer, throughout the game.
We came out winners of the match so we were happy fans for the journey home. We walked back to our coach, which was one of three that had made the journey and after a small delay in leaving the area where the coaches were parked, we then got away without any problems.
Three points in the bag and a nice day. I'd recommend this ground to other fans as there is no trouble and nice friendly locals 8/10.