Ground Name: Abbey Business Stadium
Stadium Capacity: 7,200
08/09 Average Home Attendance: 3,854
Postal Address: Whaddon Road, Cheltenham, Glos, GL52 5NA
Nickname: The Robins
Home Colours: Red and White
Main Telephone No: 01242 573558
Official Website: www.ctfc.com
                       

2009/10:- Adults £20/Conc £14/Juniors£7
(Cash sales only at the turnstiles on match days) 
Away fans will be sat in the In2Print stand, which is covered and on one side of the ground. Where larger away followings are anticipated visiting supporters will also be accommodated in the covered seated area behind the goal (Carlsberg Stand). Up to 1,800 tickets can be made available for away supporters.

Concessions include persons 65+ and full time students who can produce valid id. Juniors are 16 years of age and under.

Wheelchair disabled spaces are available in both the In2Print and Carlsberg Stands. In such circumstances admission is at the concession rate and includes the disabled persons helper.

Advance ticket discounts - for 2009/10 Cheltenham Town FC is offering a £2 discount on home and away adult and concession priced tickets at 10 of its League Two fixtures (listed below). Visiting supporters can order their advance tickets on 01242 573558 (during ticket office opening hours) to enjoy the same pre-match discount. There is a £2 per order administration charge and tickets will not be posted out, but will need to be collected on the day of the game from the Ticket office.

5/08/09 Grimsby Town
5/09/09 Dagenham & Redbridge
29/09/09 Shrewsbury Town
16/10/09 Macclesfield Town
24/11/09 Barnet
19/12/09 Burton Albion
30/01/10 Darlington
23/02/10 Torquay Utd
20/03/10 Port Vale
10/04/10 Bury

There is no car parking available to the general public at The Abbey Business Stadium on match days. Street parking in the immediate vicinity is restricted by residents match day parking regulations. The club does, however, operate a FREE Matchday Park and Ride Shuttle Service from the nearby Cheltenham Racecourse. Click here for Matchday Park and Ride details.

The stadium is only 10/15 minutes walk from numerous town centre pay and display car parks and some limited on street parking.

Road Directions -

For your SatNav - GL52 5NA

From the North (M5):

Leave M5 at junction 10 - follow road (A4019 towards Cheltenham. Keep straight on through Traffic Lights, until you come to large roundabout (PC World on right & McDonalds on left), turn left. About 500 yards up this road, you will come to double mini roundabout, go straight over. Keep going about 300 yards, then turn right into Swindon Lane, follow this road over level crossing and two mini roundabouts until you come to larger roundabout. Go straight over (signposted Prestbury) and the FREE Park and Ride service is situated on the left at Cheltenham Racecourse. For the ground, continue past racecourse and turn right (Albert Road), follow this to the end and at a roundabout turn left into Prestbury Road. After 200 yards turn right into Whaddon Road and The Abbey Business Stadium is 300 yards on left.

From the South (M5):

Exit M5 at junction 11, follow signs to Cheltenham, you will then be on A40. Continue over first roundabout then at next roundabout bear right, following signs for Oxford A40. After half a mile continue over a set of traffic lights then after another half a mile continue over some more lights, bearing left slightly and continuing to follow signs for Oxford A40. Go straight over next roundabout (still following Oxford A40). At next traffic lights turn right then immediately left into Sandford Road. Continue to a mini roundabout and turn left (still signposted Oxford A40). At next traffic lights continue straight over onto B4075 (signposted Prestbury). After half a mile bear right, staying on B4075 as it becomes Priors Road. Take the next left into Whaddon Road, continue over a mini roundabout and The Abbey Business Stadium is on the right-hand side.

For the free park and ride service, continue along Priors Road then turn right into Bouncers Lane. Continue to a double mini roundabout. Turn left at the first one then take the second exit at the second one onto B4348 Tatchley Lane, signposted Evesham A435. Follow this road to another roundabout, continue straight over and the Cheltenham Racecourse park and ride is on the right-hand side.

From London/Oxford A40:

Follow road into and through Charlton Kings, you will come to some lights where the Cirencester Road joins from left. Go straight on, but at next set of lights turn right into Hales Road. This is the B4075 (signposted Prestbury). After half a mile bear right, staying on B4075 as it becomes Priors Road. Take the next left into Whaddon Road, continue over a mini roundabout and the ground is on the right-hand side. For the free park and ride service, continue along Priors Road then turn right into Bouncers Lane. Continue to a double mini roundabout. Turn left at the first one then take the second exit at the second one onto B4348 Tatchley Lane, signposted Evesham A435. Follow this road to another roundabout, continue straight over and the Cheltenham Racecourse park and ride is on the right-hand side.

From London/Swindon A417:

As the A417 continues downhill towards Cheltenham, passing the Air Balloon public house on the left, you will reach a roundabout. Take the first exit signposted Gloucester A417. Continue to junction with M5 motorway then head north on M5 (signposted Worcester). Stay on M5 for one junction then leave at Junction 11 and head towards Cheltenham. Follow directions as above from M5 South.

By Rail -

Cheltenham Spa railway station is approximately 2½ miles and a good 40 minutes walk from the ground. (buses see below).

Using the local bus -

Take the 'D' bus from the railway station car park (every 10 minutes during the day/every 20 minutes in the evening) to the town centre then either walk to the stadium (15 minutes) or take the A bus to The Abbey Business Stadium, Whaddon Road.

Taxi -

From the railway station to the ground expect to pay around £8/£10. The taxi rank is located in the station car park (next to the bus stop).

Around the ground -

Match day social facilities include the Sports Bar, located under the Stagecoach West Stand on the main club car park side of the stadium. This is open to everyone and has a widescreen TV and hot food is served on Saturdays between midday and 2.45pm with light snacks from 5pm to 10.30pm. Within the ground you can purchase non-alcoholic beverages, burgers, pies and chips.

The stadium is only 15 minutes walk away from the town centre where there are numerous pubs/restaurants/cafes. The closest public houses to the ground are; The Fox and Hounds (Prestbury Road), The Sudley Arms (Prestbury Road), The Greyhound (Hewlett Road), The Conservatory (Winchcombe Street) and The Kemble Brewery Inn (CAMRA) (Fairview St). There is a fish and chip shop in Whaddon Road just past the Stadium and another close to the Sudley Arms. Several more fast food outlets can be found further on towards the town centre.

In Wymans Road (behind the Stadium's In2Print Stand) is the Parklands Social Club, where there is also very limited car parking (£4). The club will make a minimal charge for temporary membership, inside are two bars where snacks are available. Parklands welcomes well behaved home and away fans.

Cheltenham is a Spa town and borough in Gloucestershire with a population of 110,000. The inhabitants are known as "Cheltonians". Its motto is: Salubritas et Eruditio ("Health and Education").

Cheltenham is on the edge of the glorious Cotswolds region, one of the country's most beautiful expanses of rural countryside. The small River Chelt flows under and through the town. To the west of the town, over the River Severn is the picturesque area of The Forest of Dean.

The town is ideally situated geographically, well served by major roads, including the M5, M50, M4, A40, A46, A419, A417. By road you can be in the centre of London, north of Manchester, on the south and south west coasts of England and South Wales inside 2 hours of driving. Adjacent to the M5 motorway the town roughly midway between, and just under an hours drive away from, both Birmingham and Bristol.

Cheltenham is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held every March. Football fans using the match day park and ride facility will get a glimpse of the racecorse when they park their car in the racecourse car park before boarding the shuttle bus.

The town was awarded a market charter in 1226, though little remains of its pre-spa history.

The town has been a health and holiday spa town resort since the discovery of mineral springs there in 1716. The spa waters continue to be taken recreationally at Pittville Pump Room, built for this purpose and completed in 1830.

As a fashionable regency spa town, Cheltenham has hosted a number of famous visitors. The Royal Visit in 1788 made Cheltenham the destination of the rich and famous and notable guests such as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, C. S. Lewis, Alfred Tennyson and Lord Byron visited the town. Even today Cheltenham is the centre for art and culture, which hosts several festivals (Music, Jazz and Literature)..

Horse racing began in Cheltenham in 1815, and became a major national attraction after the establishment of the 'Festival' in 1902, which also co-incides with St Patricks Day. The racecourse attracts tens of thousands of visitors to each day of the festival each year.

The town is famous for its Regency architecture and is said to be "the most complete regency town in England".

Well known for a couple of its educatonal establishments the oldest school in Cheltenham is actually Pate's Grammar School which was founded in 1574.

Cheltenham College (founded in 1841) was the first of the major public school of the Victorian Period. The school was the setting in 1968 for the classic Lindsay Anderson film, 'If. The college also hosts the annual Cheltenham Cricket Festival, first staged in 1872, and the oldest cricket festival in the world and the school is not just proud of its accademic record either. The the highest military honour awarded to British and Commonwealth personnel is the Victoria Cross and since its introduction in 1856 some 1,353 individuals have received the medal (as of May 2009). In total fourteen Victoria Crosses have been won by former pupils of Cheltenham College, making the school third only in this regard to the much larger Eton College (22 awards) and Harrow School (15 awards). Cheltenham's military past is recognised in the fact that it is one of only two schools (the other being Eton) to have its own military colours. A replica of the Boyes VC (who was only 17 at the time of his heroic death) is on permanent display in the school library with photographs of all 14 Victoria Cross winners and a world map showing where they were won.

However, the most famous school in the town, according to the 'The Good Schools Guide', is Cheltenham Ladies College (founded in 1853).

Cheltenham has a number of light industries, including food processing, aerospace, electronics and tourism.

The town centre attracts shoppers from around the country and has two main indoor arcades, The Regent and The Beechwood Arcades. Further department stores and shops are to be found in The Promenade and High Street.

Nearby is the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Steam Railway which has one terminus at the Town's Racecourse and currently runs over a distance of 10 miles to the village of Toddington.

This list of notable Cheltonians is endless and jockey Fred Archer, who was born in the town in 1857, was a horse racing legend in his lifetime, and has been ever since. He won 2748 races between 1869 and 1886, he rode 21 Classic winners, including five Derbys, and he had been Champion Jockey 13 times.

Other notables include; Michael 'Wurzel' Burston the former guitarist with the rock band Motorhead, the Hollywood actor Ernest Cossart (1876 to 1951) whose real name was Emil von Holst (brother of the composer Gustav Holst), Ian Dench guitarist and songwriter with the pop group EMF, Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards (born 1963), the Olympic ski-jumper, poet James Elroy Flecker (1884-1915), Arthur 'Bomber' Harris (1892-1984), commander of Bomber Command, actor Robert Hardy (Siegfried Farnon in 'All Creatures Great and Small), actress Damaris Hayman, the composer Gustav Holst (1874-1934) who created The Planets Suite, actor Mike Grady (Barry Wilkinson who is married to Glenda in Last of the Summer Wine), actor Martin Jarvis, inventor of the vaccination Edward Jenner (1749-1823), rock guitarist and member of the Rolling Stones Brian Jones (1942-1969), actor Mark Lester, opera soprano Felicity Lott (born 1947), John Nevil Maskeleyne (1839-1917) who was a magician and the inventor of the pay toilet, William Murray, who was the creator of the Ladybird Books Key Reading Scheme, antiques expert the late Arthur Negus, Richard O'Brien of the Rocky Horror Show and the tv show the Crystal Maze, Olympic Gold medal rower Zac Purchase, Ralph Richardson the actor, tv presenter Kate Thornton, actress Corrinne Wicks (Doctors and Life on Mars) and Edward Wilson (1872-1912), explorer who joined Scott on his ill-fated Antarctic Expedition.