Stadium gets set to expand Booze sales allowed
MAIDSTONE United have brought in archi- tectural and financial experts to offer advice on expanding the Gallagher Stadium. In what chief executive Bill Williams
called a “wonderful problem”, the ground, which opened last summer, is seeing far larger crowds than expected and the club wants tomake sure they are ready to expand if necessary. Ideas put forward by owners Terry Casey
and Oliver Ash and other prominent people at the club include increasing capacity, building a second bar and adding more classrooms for academy students. The pro- fessional advice, expected to be presented to theclubthismonth,willlookahead to a time when the stadium may need to hold 4,000 or 5,000 people and offer recommen- dations on how to reach that goal. MrWilliams told the Downs Mail: “We are getting ourselves into a position where, ifwe do start to get near our capacity, we have everything in place to be able to move quite quickly.We are going to grow over the years, but to what capacity is unknown. “There are a lot of ideas in themelting pot at the moment. It is a wonderful problem
Signs good for stadium MAIDSTONE United has applied to KCC for permission to put up signs directing fans to its new stadium. The application, if successful, will not
only benefit football lovers but also delight other residents, many of whom have had to give directions to confused fans since the stadium opened last summer. A spokesman for the club said they were awaiting a re- sponse from the council.
A goal for the
Stones’ Alex
Brown at the
Gallagher Stadium
we’re getting and these are interesting days.” The season average has been 1,653 specta-
tors per gamewith the highest attendance so far being the Stones versus Sittingbourne FC on New Year’s Day, 2,291. On this occasion the club decided it was safe to go above the stadium’s official capacity of 2,226. The Stones only budgeted for about 800 people per game when it opened in James Whatman Way in 2012. Mr Williams said that in theory, as long as money and land were available, there was nothing to stop Maidstone United from one day being able to welcome 25,000 fans into their stadium.
Charity car parking MAIDSTONE Lions Club has been given per- mission to use the car park at the office com- plex in Stacey Street, Maidstone to provide car parking at the stadium on match days. The car park can be reached off the round-
about opposite the road leading to the ground. Members of the Lions Club will be at the car park from noon to 5.15pm every Saturday match day until the end of the season. Park- ing fees will go to the Lions’ charitable work.
despite concerns ACONVENIENCE store and newsagent in Boxley Road, Maidstone has been given- permission to sell alcohol, despite the concerns of a local resident. Martin McColl Ltd applied for a licence
to supply alcohol from 6am to 10pm daily, but retired GP Dr Worden said he was concerned for the welfare of young people in the area. DrWorden told Maidstone Council’s li- censing sub-committee that the shop was next to a recreational area where young- sters play football. He felt that the sale of alcohol would be a temptation to them. He was also concerned that youths would consume alcohol in the car park or on the green, and this could lead to large congregations of people, which could cause a nuisance to residents. However, the committee heard that Mar-
tin McColl had more than 700 premises with licences. CCTV would be monitored in the store and linked to head office. They would operate a ‘Challenge 25’ policy, with anyone thought to be under that age asked to provide proof of age. The sub-committee heard that the applicant employs an external company to carry out spot checks on their stores and staff are advised that selling alcohol to under age is “gross misconduct”. Members considered the impact of granting the application on crime and dis- order, including anti-social behaviour and public nuisance, and did not feel there was any evidence that these issues would arise and took account of the fact that there were no objections from police or residents living above the shop.
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