It would be nice if the PA system was as good everywhere else. It’s improved slightly in the Lyndhurst, but still not great. Maybe it’s because there’s more background noise in the Lyndy compared to the library, sorry - Main stand.
Yammerman":352v7fg5 said:Since moving back west and being near enough to get to home games I've used the Grandstand for the last 20 years. Yesterday was my first game in the new upper tier and maybe my expectations were too high but I found it very cramped and the narrow concourse is not a step forward.
Biggs":2y1jf8fz said:Is it not swings and roundabouts though, with the new Archie's Bar?
I never went back to the concourse pre-development unless I was desperate for the toilet (which incidentally, must count as an improvement?) as there was very little space and simply couldn't be bothered to move.
The Archie's Bar makes it a net increase in 'chill out' areas, no?
You would think that appropriate signage would be good for business though?IJN":i95kz7eq said:Perhaps though the signage is purposefully muted so that the DE fans don't walk down towards the BPE bit. Just a thought (maybe a daft one).
meetoo":txd5n57q said:Yammerman":txd5n57q said:Since moving back west and being near enough to get to home games I've used the Grandstand for the last 20 years. Yesterday was my first game in the new upper tier and maybe my expectations were too high but I found it very cramped and the narrow concourse is not a step forward. I definitely sat there thinking I should go back to the Lyndhurst or try the lower section.
My other gripe was the speaker volume it's deafening. If there was an atmosphere you wouldn't know it, until mercifully kick off comes and you get a reprieve for 45 minutes. Conversation seemed a struggle.
I've been going for on and off for 50 years so this may be grumpy old man nostalgia but the character has all gone and been replaced by modern functionality that doesn't seem to function. I rather hope other people don't feel like me as that would be a great shame.
My other gripe was the speaker volume it's deafening. If there was an atmosphere you wouldn't know it, until mercifully kick off comes and you get a reprieve for 45 minutes. Conversation seemed a struggle.
Exactly the point in some of my other posts recently!! Absolutely no need for the volume to be so high in the grandstand... conversation is completely ruined and it stifles any atmosphere! The ‘DJ’ must be deaf, I say the ‘DJ’ must be DEAF.
Biggs":11pw26aq said:Hang on, seen this mentioned a few times... the seats don’t flip up?
They do, surely. They all look flipped up in the empty stand pictures.
PSM Green":1233ktqu said:First Pasoti post but a supporter and regular attender for 15 years.
I sat in the revamped upper grandstand for the first time at the New Year's Day match. It was completely full. I agree that the seating space is much more restricted than elsewhere in the ground and it is difficult for people to walk along the rows past other spectators because the seat bases do not lift up. In addition to lack of space in front the seats seemed quite close together.
However my main concern were possible safety issues.
I was sitting in the block at the extreme left hand end of the upper grandstand, about halfway up. After the final whistle it was impossible to get out because of the number of people trying to do the same. I know this is the same to a degree at the end of every game wherever one sits in the ground. However looking across at the Devonport stand I saw that blocks A, B, C and D had all emptied of spectators by 5:03 (I took a photo of it) but I had only been able to very slowly move about 10 seats along and was still in the row where I had been sitting.
I would therefore worry about the speed with which spectators could leave the upper grandstand in a hurry if that was ever necessary. It looks to be very much slower than the Devonport. The retained 1950s exit route and staircases seems to be too narrow to allow rapid evacuation of a full stand of spectators. This may well have been the same situation before the stand was rebuilt but that, and the limited seating space, does rather put me off using the seats up there in future.
djg145":2wlwrtc0 said:Biggs":2wlwrtc0 said:Hang on, seen this mentioned a few times... the seats don’t flip up?
They do, surely. They all look flipped up in the empty stand pictures.
YES the seat bases do flip up, when not in use.
metroace":231x6sz5 said:Like all modern stadium seat, when you stand up, the seat flips.