Winchester Sports Stadium opens for bookings

The University of Winchester is delighted to announce that the new Winchester Sports Stadium is open for business with its facilities available for booking by local sports teams and organisations.

Winchester Sports Stadium, located at Bar End in the City, offers an Olympic standard 400m eight-lane athletics track with supporting facilities for field events, an all-weather hockey and general sports pitch, floodlighting and a pavilion.

Work began to redevelop Bar End in July 2007 and it cost £3.5 million. The project was managed by the University of Winchester with support and money from Winchester City Council, Hampshire County Council and Winchester and District Athletic Club. The project also successfully bid for funding from Sport England and the Norwich Union Community Sports Fund.

Construction work on the new facilities came to a close earlier this month, with work to extend the pavilion due for completion in November.

The University manages the Stadium in consultation with partnership members. The facilities are reserved for University sports clubs on Wednesday afternoons with the remainder of the week open to the community.

“Winchester Sports Stadium is set to be the hub for outdoor sports in the Winchester area,” said Tommy Geddes, Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Winchester. “It’s a terrific facility that should see a step change in sporting activity – for young and old, the unfit as well as elite athletes, for those who have never tried a sport as much as for those with years of experience. And its for people with disabilities – a growth area in sport that we aim to encourage.”

Cllr Patricia Stallard, Winchester City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Heritage, Culture and Sport, commented: “In an Olympic year, we could not be putting out a more positive signal about our shared commitment to healthy lifestyles. We hope this will inspire people to take up a sport, as well as providing excellent facilities for our many very talented sportspeople.”

Hannah Bladen, Deputy Regional Director, Sport England South East said, “We are delighted that our investment into this project will help grow the number of people doing sport and will contribute to sustaining this involvement for a prolonged period of time.  This stadium is a prime example of a high quality, accessible venue, open to the whole community and one that is showing real commitment to making Winchester and Hampshire an active and sporting part of the South East region.”  

In order to encourage more participation in sport and physical activity, a Community Coach for Athletics has been appointed to work with local groups of all ages, as well as to train and engage with children from the district’s schools and sports clubs.

In March 2008, Winchester Sports Stadium was shortlisted as a pre-Games training group for use by overseas teams in the run-up to London 2012. The venue will be available to athletes from across the world to train and acclimatise in their sport ahead of the London Olympic Games. Some local athletes who will be training at the stadium over the next four years will also be hoping to make the selection for Team GB in 2012.

If you would like to book the Winchester Sports Stadium facilities for use by your sports team or organisation please contact us on 01962 827007 or email sportsenquiries@winchester.ac.uk

Last Updated: Monday 27 March 2017