Carlton Town

You must have come in a taxi

NOTE: YOU CANNOT TURN INTO STOKE LANE FROM THE A612 BURTON ROAD. YOU CAN ONLY GAIN ACCESS TO CARLTON TOWN VIA THE NEW GEDLING BY-PASS. YOU CAN REGISTER YOUR OBJECTIONS TO THIS ABSURDITY VIA THE LOCAL MP, VERNON COCKER AT: [email protected]

From M1 J26 - Follow A610 towards Nottingham to reach Ring Road. Turn left on to Ring Road for A60 - Mansfield. Follow signposts for A60 towards Mansfield for about 4 miles passing over two roundabouts then turn left at the traffic lights. Turn next right at Vale Hotel pub on to Thackerays Lane. Proceed to roundabout and take second left on to Arno Vale Road. Proceed through lights, passing the Arrow pub on your LHS, to top of hill. Continue straight on through next set of lights on to Arnold Lane. Proceed, past Gedling Church on your LHS, straight over mini-roundabout. Continue as the road curves round to the right until reaching junction with A612. Turn right towards Nottingham, veering left at the next set of traffic lights over the A612 Colwick Loop Road. At the next lights turn left. Continue a short distance before turning left into Stoke Lane, and the Ground is clearly marked as 'CTFC Only'. There is an adequate car park as you enter the ground.

From Nottingham City Centre - From Manvers Street, follow the A612 Colwick Loop Road for 4 miles. After you pass the retail park on your right, you should take the next road at the traffic lights, clearly marked as 'CTFC Only'. There is an adequate car park as you enter the ground.

From the East - Where the A46 & the A52 meet, take 2nd exit at the roundabout for A6097 (Doncaster). Follow A6097 west for 3.7 miles. At roundabout, turn left for Nottm onto A612 for 4.5 miles. As you go under a railway bridge, veer left at the next set of traffic lights over the A612 Colwick Loop Road. At the next lights turn left. Continue at short distance along Stoke Lane, and the Ground is clearly marked on your RHS. There is an adequate car park as you enter the ground.

Veolia 62, 63 & 64 to Stoke (Nottm Queens Street - Bingham). Alternatively, use the NCT Pathfinder Southwell Sprinter to Gedling (Nottm Queens Street - Newark) and get off at the Carlton-Le-Willows school, under the railway bridge in Gedling. The Ground is then a 0.3 mile stroll down Stoke Lane on your LHS.

Carlton - Head north up Station Road, taking the 1st right onto Conway Road. Cross over Conway Road onto Burton Road, with the playing fields on your RHS. Walk under the Railway Bridge, and take the 3rd right onto Stoke Lane. The Ground is 0.3 miles on your LHS.

For a map of the location, Click here.

My garden shed is bigger than this

Football in Stoke Bardolph since the turn of the 1990's has been dominated by Gedling Town. However, there's a new kid on the block - and it means business.

As one of Nottinghamshire's newest football club, the Lions of Carlton have embarked on a quite extraordinary transition in a relatively short space of time. Formed in 2002, as an amalgamation of Sneinton Football Club and Porchester Lions, they wasted no time in announcing their intentions by winning the Central Midlands Supreme Division at the first attempt. As a result, they were promoted to the dizzy heights of the Northern Counties East Division One,and by the end of the 2004/05 season, they had finished third in Division One and were all set for promotion again. Unfortunately, the powers that be at the NCEL decided to promote only the top two clubs. This came as a bitter blow to the club, who had invested heavily in such a short space of time to transform Stoke Lane from an open playing field into a Football Ground the local community could to be proud of. However, their determination to climb the pyramid continued unabated with the NCEL Division One Championship captured in 2006, and promotion in the following year to the Unibond Northern League First Division.

The local council had for many years been planning to build a by-pass on the A610 to take traffic away from the nearby suburb of Gedling. Tragically, the proposed road bulldozed right through the middle of Carlton's main pitch. As a result, the club had to move all of it's facilities a few yards north, including the re-location of their spanking new stand and existing changing rooms, all at their own expense. Carlton moved into the all-new Bill Stokleld Stadium in the summer of 2007. and it's a vast improvement.

You shouldn't miss the ground, as there's one road in and one road out - well sort of. A controversial decision was made by the local council to only allow access to Stoke Lane from the new by-pass into Stoke Lane. this has affectively sealing off the north side of Stoke Lane, with only buses allowed through only (there are traffic lights in force that only turn green for buses to continue through to Burton Road.). The major problem is that all of the potential fanbase for Carlton is to the north of the stadium, thus no passing traffic equals no passing punters. A crazy decision by a council who are supposedly meant to be supporting the local community.

Anyway, back to the venue. You cannot really miss the entrance thanks to the large yellow sign that greets you at the entrance to the car park. As you enter through the car park and venture onto the turnstiles, one's attention is immediately drawn to the wonderful black, wrought iron turnstiles, preserved from the old ground. This classical feature contrasts notably with anything else at the ground, which is pretty much brand spanking new.

The clubhouse and changing room facilities are housed in two large modern structures along the Stoke Lane side of the ground. Between the clubhouse and the pitch, on warmer matchdays, you'll find an array of wooden benches for those not wanting to move too far away from the action on the pitch, but also not to move too far away from the bar.

Another new feature is the fully-lit artificial five-a-side pitches behind the By-Pass End.

There are six huge steel pole floodlights, three on each side of the ground, each one holding two large clusters peering down over the pitch. Between the middle floodlight on the Stoke Lane side of the ground are the Club's two dug outs. These

You may well find on matchdays that the wonderful smell of burger and chips cascading out of the Clubhouse kitchen are somewhat tainted by substantially less pleasant smell of raw sewage. This is a dubious gift from the Stoke Bardolph sewage treatment works, just yards to the south of the ground.

In the summer of 2005, Carlton embarked on their most ambitious project to date, the construction of their first all seater stand now located at the By-Pass End. There are four rows of seats in this impressive little prefab stand, each row smartly decked out the club's colours. The whole stand is held together with a criss-cross formation of black painted steel with a corrugated roof. Most pleasing of all, there are no posts to obscure the view.

Such great detail has gone into the general facilities that one can't fail to be impressed. Minor details such as the pitch being completely encircled by a yellow and blue metal perimeter barrier, the goal nets being decked in yellow and blue and the fascia of the Clubhouse proudly boasting the Club's name, all add up to a truly pleasurable experience.

It's just a pity that they can't do anything about those sewage works.

Future Plans

Like their nearby rivals Arnold Town, Carlton were evicted from their home in the summer of 2007 - moving a few hundred yards north.

The Club have ambitious plans, including the erection of new changing room facilities. Money is being raised through social events attracting the likes of Forest legends Kenny Burns, John McGovern, Frank Clark & John Robertson as guest speakers. The new relocated ground is now known as the Bill Stokeld Stadium, after their late Chairman, who did so much to get the Club where it is today.