"Clean, good views, not much away from the pitch."

As one of the nearest grounds to me, I wanted this to be a great hidden gem - and it was a good occasion for a visit, as the ground had been out of action for at least a year after the death of the chairman; the club had been sharing with Chessington & Hook until the visit of Lordswood on 30 August. The ground has three stands - one cantilevered one behind one of the goals, one covered and featuring seats along one side of the pitch, and one covered and featuring terraces along half of the other side of the pitch. The whole ground was very tidy and very clean, but as the title says - not a great deal of other facilities.

Location

A decent size car-park but with nowhere to shackle a bike; bike visitors should use the bike stands in front of the Better Gym a little bit further along.

View

The stands are all close to the pitch, but unless you're behind a goal, a pillar will get in your way. The elevation is minimal so perspective a bit tricky to gauge, but despite the seats being older and plastic, they're well proportioned.

Facilities

There was one solitary toilet, which was busy each time I went, so I can't comment.

Food & Drink

Outside the ground is a food van selling what looked like excellent chips and a variety of other things; inside the ground is a converted shipping container where you can get food and drink. They didn't do Bovril so I can't give more than 2.5 stars; they did do tea, which was nice. I looked in at half time and there seemed to be plates of things to eat but they may have been for someone else, so I didn't try them.

Police & Stewards

Not present.

Atmosphere

Possibly due to the first home game in a couple of years, or possibly because the game was exciting (it ended 2-4 to Lordswood, with Banstead 0-2 down at half time but level after an hour; two penalties were awarded, one to each team, with Lordswood missing and Banstead scoring) there was a crowd of 150-200, best that I can judge, and they made a decent noise.

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