Bristol Rovers have taken out a loan, secured against the Memorial Stadium, to finance their intended construction of a new South Stand this summer.
Companies House published the financial agreement for an undisclosed amount between Bristol Rovers (1883) Limited and Nationwide Finance Limited on May 5, with the paperwork signed by president Wael Al-Qadi.
Nationwide Finance Limited are based in Buckinghamshire and claim to be the UK’s No1 direct business lender, providing quick loans for limited companies. Their lending period ranges between 12 months and six years. They are not connected with Nationwide Building Society.
Rovers hope to build a new South Stand at the Mem to be in place for the start of next season which will boost capacity by 2,600, as detailed in the plans released last month, and remove the widely-derided tented structures that have been in place for 20 years. Following the 3-2 defeat to Bolton Wanderers on Sunday, work has begun on clearing the site in preparation.
When contacted, Rovers have declined to comment beyond what CEO Tom Gorringe confirmed on Twitter in replying to a supporter. When tagged in a tweet concerning the loan and it's likely potential to pay for the South Stand, Gorringe wrote "correct".
The club state they are engaged in the planning process with Bristol City Council but, at the time of writing, no planning application for the stand appears on the public portal. However, Bristol Live understands there has been a lag in terms of recent submissions and Rovers and the council are in constant communication over the project.
Writing in his programme notes for the final game of the 2022/23 season in which the Gas posted their largest attendance of the season at 10,086, Gorringe said: “The new plan adds over 2,000 seats to our capacity, whilst also improving our ability to service supporters through a new concourse that will be created underneath the seating deck.
“The roof structure will be a solid steel structure and these improvements will also enable us to increase the number of accessible seats that we have available.
“Similarly to this season, we will be looking to operate an efficient means of selling tickets to visiting fans with a flexible segregation line that can be adjusted to minimise the number of empty seats. These changes will also mean that the big screen will move.
“Work begins on Tuesday to clear the area and remove the existing stands and clear the area. After that, we are on a tight schedule to get the work completed for the new season.
“Given the schedule we have contingency plans in place should any delays occur. We will also be working with planning, building regs and our Safety Advisory Group (SAG) to ensure the project runs as smoothly as possible and is signed off for supporter usage at the earliest opportunity.”
SIGN UP: To receive our free Rovers newsletter, bringing you the latest from the Mem
READ NEXT:
