Serpentine/Villa Leisure Centre car park to close immediately.

[Dave Javu]

[SoccerHQ]

Interesting. Quite a big chunk of space to lose for park in the immediate area around VP so a knock on effect in other congested areas is inevitable really.

[Lee]

That's where I usually park -  we take it turns, so don't have to drive all the time. Only mentioned to my lad that I was surprised that it was still open after the Hull Home game

[pauliewalnuts]

That's where I always park, too.

I seem to remember, though, that the club sold it years ago - may even have been Doug's time - and as a result, at the start of every season, I've found myself wondering if we'd rock up and find the new owners had stopped the car parking. I guess it had to happen sometime.

I am pretty sure I read that when it was sold, the new owners planned to build housing on it, but it was becoming way more problematic for them, as the immense levels of air pollution from being so close to the Expressway meant it was illegal to build housing on a big chunk of it.

[brian green]

I am bored at work so apropos of nothing, the Serpentine as legend has it may be where Charlie Chaplin was born.  The famous locked desk in his study in Switzerland is alleged to have yielded evidence that Charlie was not born near the Elephant in south east London but in a caravan travelling with Pat Collins circus camped on the Serpentine Grounds. The legend has a parallel claim that the Serpentine Grounds referred to in the documentary evidence were actually in Smethwick. Was Charlie Chaplin a Brummie? He certainly walked like one.

[dave.woodhall]

I am bored at work so apropos of nothing, the Serpentine as legend has it may be where Charlie Chaplin was born.  The famous locked desk in his study in Switzerland is alleged to have yielded evidence that Charlie was not born near the Elephant in south east London but in a caravan travelling with Pat Collins circus camped on the Serpentine Grounds. The legend has a parallel claim that the Serpentine Grounds referred to in the documentary evidence were actually in Smethwick. Was Charlie Chaplin a Brummie? He certainly walked like one.

http://thebirminghampress.com/2011/02/who-was-smethwicks-greatest-actor/

[brian green]

I am pretty convinced that Charlie Chaplin was a Brummie if for no other reason than it pisses off the Old Kent Road cockneys who do not even know how to say Smethwick let alone know where it is.  I put it in the same file as the indisputable evidence that Shakespeare was a son of Birmingham.  I am working on Elvis.

[oldtimernow]

I remember going to the Onion Fair on it but wasn't around for when the Lion escaped

[eamonn]

That's where I always park, too.

I seem to remember, though, that the club sold it years ago - may even have been Doug's time - and as a result, at the start of every season, I've found myself wondering if we'd rock up and find the new owners had stopped the car parking. I guess it had to happen sometime.

Didn't the proceeds fund the Petrov signing as Doug's last act of "kindness"?

[brian green]

Bloody hell, the Onion Fair, that takes me back.

[peter w]

Sold for a whopping £7m wasn't it?

[oldtimernow]

Bloody hell, the Onion Fair, that takes me back.

Dodgems or Waltzers?

[brian green]

I was strictly a dodgems youth but we called them Bumper Cars, OTN.

[Dave Javu]

Just a reminder of the closure.  There could potentially be a  fair amount of traffic chaos today.

[UK Redsox]

I guess that some people ended up Perry Barr side of the ground instead.

Tesco were expecting an influx of new parking customers.

My regular car park at Broadway School was almost full 90 mins before the game.