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St Albans City

Clarence Park

Capacity: 5,007 (Seating 642)
Address: York Road, St Albans, AL1 4PL
Telephone: 01727 848914
Pitch Size: 101 x 68 metres
Pitch Type: Grass
Club Nickname: Saints
Year Ground Opened: 1894
Undersoil Heating: No
Home Kit: Yellow and Blue


                    
                    

The ground is a largely an open one with terracing on three sides of the ground. On one side is the old Main Stand that was originally built in 1922. This small wooden stand is quaint looking, however, it doesn't have many creature comforts for the paying customer. The six rows of seating sit behind a large number of supporting pillars running across the front of the stand and if that were not enough hindrance, the stand is set well back from the playing area and there also the bases of two floodlight pylons sitting between the stand and the pitch. There is a slope on the pitch that runs up from the Clarence Park End up to the York Road End and you can see how the Main Stand has been built in sections, each raised a bit higher, to climb up the slope. Part of the Main Stand towards the Clarence Park End, has been converted into a Director's Lounge. Behind the stand the large brick building which is visible is the Club House.

Opposite the Main Stand is the East Terrace or perhaps better known as the Cricket Pitch Side. This largely open terrace does have a small covering in the middle. It is an interesting stand as it is cantilevered and is made of concrete, even its roof. The low roof does provide excellent protection from the weather. Both ends are small open terraces. If the crowd is segregated then the Clarence Park Terrace is allocated to away supporters. There is a small Club Shop situated inside the ground, next to the York Road Terrace. A set of four small floodlights, run down each side of the pitch. The playing surface itself has gained a reputation as being one of the best kept in the country and on my visit it did not disappoint.

The ground with a park on one side and a cricket ground on the other (which has an interesting looking Pavilion) is set in an attractive setting. This is enhanced with a number of trees being visible behind each side of the ground perimeter. Up until the late 90's the ground was famous for having a large oak tree that sat in the middle of the Clarence Park Terrace. It was not unknown for visiting goal keepers to get the odd acorn thrown in their direction. Alas, the oak tree became diseased and was swiftly removed by the Club.

The Club has put forward plans to build a new 6,000 capacity stadium, on Noke Lane, near Bricket Wood. This is located near to the intersection of the M25 (J21A) and the M1 (J6A), to the South West of St Albans. The site is around five miles away from Clarence Park. The new stadium would be part of a wider generation scheme for the area, so expect it to be a long drawn out process.

If away fans are segregated then the Clarence Park Terrace is allocated to them. This small terrace is open to the elements so hope that it doesn't rain. The gents toilets are also open to the elements and were looking their age. Refreshments are provided by a refreshment van, which sells the usual array of burgers, hot dogs and chips.  On the plus side the stewards were relaxed and it should be a hassle free day out. However, with the ground being largely open, then as you would expect it is difficult to generate a good atmosphere.

There is a simple club house at the ground, called the Saints Bar, which is open to all fans. The entrance to it though can be a little hard to find (unless you walk around the ground from York Road), as you need to follow the pathway through Clarence Park around the back of the Clarence Park Terrace to get behind the Main Stand, where the bar is located. It is then up the stairs to the entrance. If fans are not segregated then fans can use the bar at half time, although you do have to show your match admission ticket to gain entrance back into the ground for the second half. The nearest pub to the ground is the Crown pub, which is only five minutes walk away at the bottom of Clarence Road. This spacious pub, shows Sky Sports, serves real and food is also available. If you have time on your hands then the town centre is around a 15 minute walk away where there are plenty of pubs to be found. Personally I enjoyed the Farmer's Boy on London Road. A nice comfortable pub with a beer garden, that has been recently refurbished. Apart from some reasonably priced food it is also serves Verulam Ales which are brewed on the premises.

From The North (M1)
Leave the M1 at Junction 7 and take the M10 towards St Albans. At the end of the motorway, proceed straight across the first roundabout that you reach and at the next roundabout turn left onto the A1081 towards St Albans. Proceed along the A1081, until you reach a small roundabout a which you turn right into Alma Road (sign posted St Albans City Railway Station). Proceed up to the traffic lights (with the 'Horn' pub on your right hand side) and turn right into Victoria Street. Go up this road passing the railway station on your left and continue to follow the road around to the left. At the next traffic lights (with the Crown pub on your right), go straight onto into Clarence Road. A short way up Clarence Road, turn left for the entrance to the Football & Cricket grounds. 

Car Parking
There is little parking at the ground itself, although if you arrive early then you may be lucky. Otherwise there is plenty of on street parking in Clarence Road and in York Road (which is the next left after the entrance to the ground). Beware though that at the bottom of Clarence Road, that car parking is restricted to one hour pay and display and the traffic wardens were out in force on my visit. There are no restrictions further up Clarence Road. Also there is a good sized car park at St Albans Railway Station which is a quarter of a mile away from the ground. It costs £2.50 to park there all day on Saturdays or after 5pm on weekday evenings.

The nearest station is St Albans City, which is served by Thameslink trains from St Pancras and further south of London. Slow trains from London normally terminate at St Albans but fast trains go on to Luton or Bedford. The station is about a 5-10 minute walk away from the Clarence Park ground. 

On coming out of the main station entrance (on the east side), turn left along Station Way. At the top of this road turn right into Hatfield Road. Go down to the traffic lights (where the Crown pub can be seen on one corner) and turn left into Clarence Road and then left again for the ground entrance. You may be interested to note the cricket pavilion on your right. 

Alternatively, from the traffic lights, you could enter Clarence Park and take a short cut directly to the turnstiles. Brian Scott has informed me that on his visit in September 2017 that he noticed that a new entrance to Clarence Park is being made in Hatfield Road up near the railway bridge at the top of Station Way. If this is open on your visit it will be an even quicker walk.

Booking train tickets in advance will normally save you money! Find train times, prices and book tickets with Trainline. Visit the website below to see how much you can save on the price of your tickets:

These prices below are for matchday. A discount is offered on these prices if bought in advance of matchday. An additional small discount is also offered to club members. Advance prices are shown in brackets.

Adults £18 (£16.50)
Concessions £12 (£11) 
Under 16's & Students £8 (£6)  
Under 12's Free**
Family Ticket: 2 Adults + 2 Under 16's £30 (£27)

** Only one Under 12 admitted free per paying accompanying adult. Otherwise entrance is £3.

Concessions apply to over 65's, Unemployed, Under 21's, EPL or EFL season ticket holders, Emergency Services Staff and serving members of the Armed Forces.

Official Matchday Programme £2.50

St Albans City FC fixture list (takes you to the BBC Sports Website).

Boreham Wood and Hemel Hempstead.

Record Attendance
9,757 v Ferryhill Athletic
FA Amateur Cup Quarter Final, February 27th, 1926.

Average Attendance
2018-2019: 842 (National League South)
2017-2018: 755 (National League South)
2016-2017: 703 (National League South)

If you require hotel accommodation in St Albans 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. Yes this site will earn a small commission if you book through them, but it will help towards the running costs of keeping this Guide going. 

If anything is incorrect or you have something to add, please e-mail me at: contact@footballgroundguide.com and I'll update the guide.

  • St Albans City v Stevenage
    Pre-Season Friendly
    Saturday 9th July 2016, 3pm
    James Walker (Stevenage fan)

    Why were you looking forward to this game and visiting Clarence Park?

    After a month of, quite frankly, shocking Euro 2016 football (and more humiliation from England), it was finally time for regular Saturday football to start again, and a local game to kick off the pre-season! Also pre-season means it's time to play the best terrace game around, guess the trialist!

    How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking?

    I took the number 300 bus from Stevenage direct to St Albans for the game, which took us to St Albans train station (taking roughly 1 hour 15 minutes). From there, it was a simple walk through the local park to the ground. We arrived for just before 1.30pm and even had time to take in some local cricket before going in!

    What you did before the game pub/chippy etc, and were the home fans friendly?

    Once entering the ground it was a case of picking up a badge (£2) and a programme (£2.50) before finding a good place to take the game in from and getting some food. I didn't see any home fans outside but spoke to a couple inside the ground who were very friendly.

    What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of Clarence Park?

    Clarence Park is a very nice football ground with seating running the length of one of the sides as well as terracing all around the other 3 sides. Although most games are non-segregated, the stewards informed me that the occasional games do have segregation, and when they do, the away end is one of the open terraces behind one of the goals.

    Clarence Park

    Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, facilities etc..

    The game itself was very good with Stevenage running out 3-2 winners, with two new signings scoring; Andrew Fox scoring our first followed by a brace for Jake Hyde. The food was lovely, with a hot dog with onions and chips coming to £4, and a fantastic size making very good value for money. I did not use the facilities there and barely noticed the relaxed stewards.

    Come On Stevenage!

    Comment on getting away from the ground after the game:

    Getting back was simple. A ten minute walk back to the station was followed by a much quicker bus journey back than was taken getting to St Albans in the first place, with getting back to Stevenage in just one hour.

    Summary of overall thoughts of the day out:

    Overall a very fun day out and a good start to pre-season, I would definately return here again should our paths ever cross again.

    Half Time Score: St Albans City 1-0 Stevenage
    Full Time Result: St Albans City 2-3 Stevenage
    Attendance: 402

  • St Albans City v Gloucester City
    National League South
    Saturday 2nd September 2017, 3pm
    Brian Scott (Neutral fan)

    Why were you looking forward to this game and visiting Clarence Park?
     
    I needed a ground that I could get to quite easily from Suffolk as I needed to be back in Ipswich by 19.10, so I chose St Albans.
     
    How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking?
     
    The train journey is very easy to London Liverpool Street and then three stops on the underground to Farringdon and then the choice of lots of trains to St Albans. On the outward journey I chose a slow train as I had lots of time to spare and wanted the slower view from the window.
     
    What you did before the game pub/chippy etc, and were the home fans friendly?
     
    With plenty of time to spare, I had a walk into the city centre and had a look around the cathedral. There was also a very busy market up the main shopping street. It looked an attractive place. I walked to the ground at a steady pace stopping to have a look at the cricket pavilion. I also noted that a shorter route to the ground will soon be available once a new entrance is made to the park up near the railway bridge on Hatfield Road.
     
    What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of Clarence Park?
     
    My first impression of Clarence Park was – goodness it's very OLD! Nothing much at all seemed new apart from a few of the blue plastic tip up seats. However the terracing is in good condition, and I did like the roof over the cricket-side terrace which must give very good protection from the weather.
     
    Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, facilities etc..
     
    In the third minute Gloucester City scored from a good header, but the equaliser came in the 36th minute which was an excellent goal. In the 54th minute the game-changing incident happened. A Gloucester player had a shot at goal and it must have been handled in the penalty area as the referee awarded a penalty and sent the St Albans player off. Very harsh I thought as it could have been ball to hand. However, in the 77th minute St Albans did manage to get another goal to make it 2-2. I thought that this would be a fair result, but Gloucester managed to get a third goal in the last few minutes to make it 2-3. The attendance was 904.
     
    Comment on getting away from the ground after the game:
     
    It is an easy walk back to the railway station. I left a few minutes early so that I could be sure of getting the 17.04 fast train back to Farringdon and then the 18.00 from Liverpool Street.
     
    Summary of overall thoughts of the day out:
     
    It was a good day out in the warm sunshine with all trains running to time and not too busy.
  • St Albans City v Harrogate Town
    FA Trophy 2nd Round
    Saturday 13th January 2018, 3pm
    Paul Dickinson (Harrogate Town fan)

    Why were you looking forward to this game and visiting Clarence Park?
     
    We picked this game as Clarence Park was a new ground for me (number 346) and one of our local teams were the opposition.
     
    How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking?
     
    An easy two and a half hour trip straight down the M1 from Leeds, arriving in St Albans at 12.30pm. As we were staying overnight at the Premier Inn in the centre of town, we parked in the nearby multistory car park.
     
    What you did before the game pub/chippy etc, and were the home fans friendly?
     
    After having some lunch, it was an easy 10-15 minute walk to the ground. As mentioned in this Guide, the new entrance to Clarence Park is now open from Hatfield Road, so it was a nice scenic walk to the ground. There was no segregation for this game, so the away turnstiles were closed, but these would be the first ones you come to via the park.
     
    What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of Clarence Park?
     
    Clarence Park is a nice looking ground with lots of trees surrounding it and a fantastic main stand with wooden seats – they don't make them like this anymore! We went for a drink in the clubhouse before kick off – everyone was friendly and they had a local real ale, albeit unusually served out of a cardboard box on the bar!
     
    Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, facilities etc..
     
    It was interesting to watch two teams who were going well in their respective South/North divisions – St Albans were the better team and I thought Harrogate were fortunate to get a 93 minute equaliser, to force a replay.
     
    Comment on getting away from the ground after the game:
     
    A word of warning here – although the new park entrance is open before the game, everything was locked up by the time we came out, causing some confusion about how we actually got out, especially as it was dark and the stadium is surrounded by lots of walkways. You need to aim for the cricket pavilion, walk behind this and onto the road, and then walk around the perimeter of the park back onto Hatfield Road. Once we'd sorted that out, we were back in the hotel for 5.15pm and getting ready for a night out.
     
    Summary of overall thoughts of the day out:
     
    Another great weekend away – St Albans is a lovely historic city, with a Cathedral and lots of stunning architecture On both the Saturday and Sunday, there was a local market taking place along the length of the High St and there are some fantastic pubs to visit, not least the Boot Inn, dating back to 1422, We'll be coming back for another weekend at some stage, when ticking off another ground in the vicinity,
  • St Albans City v Truro City
    National League South
    Saturday 10th March 2018, 3pm
    Tom Wicks (Neutral fan)

    Why were you looking forward to this game and visiting Clarence Park?
     
    Clarence Park was a stadium that I had been meaning to visit for some time. The fixture was being played between two teams vying for promotion so it was set to be a fascinating encounter.
     
    How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking?
     
    The journey was surprisingly easy. I parked in the nearby St Albans City train station multi-storey where there was no problem finding a space. It cost £2.70 for all day parking on a Saturday and was just a five minute walk away from Clarence Park.
     
    What you did before the game pub/chippy etc, and were the home fans friendly?
     
    My brother and I arrived at around 1:30pm so we had a pint of local ale and some chips, while watching the warm-ups. The home supporters were welcoming and all-too happy to provide any information.
     
    What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of Clarence Park?
     
    Clarence Park is situated in a very pleasant public park with cricket pitches, all-weather pitches and a childrens play area. Nestled just over the bridge from the main road, it was very easy to find. The stadium itself is dominated by one seated-stand which is painted in the gold and blue of the Saints. It stretches along the length of the pitch. Opposite, there is a canopy over a section of the other side, while the two ends are uncovered but are elevated to ensure that there are few bad views of the pitch.
     
    Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, facilities etc..
     
    St Albans had the lions share of the possession and chances but lacked cutting edge in the final third. Truro executed the perfect game plan- converting a first half penalty and absorbing the hosts' pressure. The twenty-odd Truronians were in good voice as the home side failed to overturn a 1-0 first-half deficit The food van in the corner of the ground served an array of typical fayre. Chips were served instantly and for £2 was decent value. The beer at £3.50 was tasty and popular among the onlookers. The queues were short and the views of the pitch were excellent., whether you wanted to be close to the pitch or up a little higher for perspective.
     
    Comment on getting away from the ground after the game:
     
    My brother and I edged towards the exit for the last ten minutes and were able to exit quickly and easily via the way we entered. The traffic exiting St Albans was a little sticky but this was more down to the shoppers than the football.
     
    Summary of overall thoughts of the day out:
     
    I found the admission fee of £15 a little steep, particularly as other clubs in the league charge less. However, the football was entertaining and the atmosphere made for an enjoyable game and a good day out.
Updated 19th June 2020