Scunthorpe are on the road this Tuesday night, as they make the trip to Bury.
Gigg Lane...Bury have played their football at Gigg Lane since their formation in 1885, with the stadium initially built solely for use by the club. The first match to be played at the stadium was a friendly between Bury and Wigan on 12 September 1885, with the hosts running out 4-3 winners. Meanwhile, the first league match to be played at the venue was on 8 September 1894 when the home side were 4-2 victors over Manchester City in the Second Division.
The stadium has had permanent floodlights since 1953, although the first floodlit match to be played there took place in 1889, before the Football League had authorised the use of floodlights in competitive matches. Between 1992 and 2002 the ground was shared with Swinton Lions Rugby League club, while FC United of Manchester have been joint-tenants since 2005, and has a current capacity of 11,840 – making it the sixth largest in the league. The ground was renamed The JD Stadium in November 2013 after Bury announced a new sponsorship deal with JD Sports, although Bury own the stadium outright.
The ground was completely rebuilt in the 1990s, with the Taylor Report forcing all Football League clubs to switch to all-seater stadiums – with the club starting work on converting all four stands in 1993. The final stand to be completed was the Cemetery End, which was finalised in 1999 and runs behind one of the goals. The South Stand (renamed The Les Hart Stand in 2010) is the largest stand running along the side-lines, while the Main Stand is opposite.
Getting there...
Follow signs for Doncaster and merge onto the M180. After 12 miles, enter the roundabout and take the third exit towards the M62 (Goole/Hull/Leeds) via the M18 ramp – merging onto the M62 after 6-7 miles.
Once on the M62, continue for just over 60 miles, before taking the M66 exit to Bury at junction 18. At the roundabout, take the third exit onto the M66 ramp to Bury/Burnley/Blackburn before merging onto the M66.
At junction 2, take the A58 exit to Bury/Heywood then the second exit at the roundabout onto Rochdale Road/A58.
Having travelled half a mile, turn left onto Heywood Street/B6219 and continue through one roundabout. At the following roundabout take the second exit onto Parkhills Road, then take the second exit once again on the roundabout after – onto Market Street.
Finally, enter another roundabout, taking the first exit to arrive at Gigg Lane.
Stay on this road for about 55miles – making it the main bulk of today’s journey. At Junction 20 take the A627 exit towards Rochdale/Oldham, before taking the third exit on the next roundabout (0.3 miles away).
Turn left onto Edinburgh Way (A664), after about 1 mile (it may show signs for Rochdale/A58). There is a slight right onto Rochdale Valley Way which you will have to keep a keen eye out for as this leads straight to the Spotland Stadium – home of Rochdale.
For your information...
The on-site restaurant at Gigg Lane is Starkies, which offers a range of food including steak sandwiches while catering around the ground is controlled by Lindsey Catering. The most popular pubs near the stadium grounds are the Swan & Cemetery, Staff of Life, the Waterloo and the Rose & Crown – with some of these pubs offering parking to customers. There are several food establishments less than a half a mile away from the stadium including The Swan & Cemetery, Home Run, Mittus Grill and Goodies Hot Food & Sandwich Bar.
Parking...
Please note that Gigg Lane (the Road) is normally closed on match days and the ground itself is not easily seen from the A56. There is a resident’s only parking scheme in operation in streets nearby to the ground on both match-days and evenings – with wardens patrolling the area.
Post Code for SAT NAV: BL9 9HR
BL9 9HR
Bury
Gigg Lane
Bury FC