Villa Park Redevelopment

[Brazilian Villain]

Venue 1874
1874 ........
and can we have a micro brewery please

Now your talking brother

Gets a thumbs-up from me as would the names 'Lions' Den' or 'Witton End".

[algy]

I was interested to read that Aston station is utilised more than Witton station on match days:

"More fans currently use Aston Station (65%) compared to Witton Station (35%), so we will be looking at how to better manage usage, queuing, and access to train services"

Can anyone local shed any light on why this might be the case? Is it just access to the Cross City Line?

I'd guess there's a couple of reasons.

First, you have the cross city trains towards Lichfield & Redditch going from there.  As a byproduct of that, it'll also have a more frequent service than Witton.

[The Man With A Stick]

Couple of musings about Villa Live...

Will it be a big enough attraction to drag people to what is a scruffy/unloved part of Birmingham?

With football rivalries being what they are, will it exclude a big proportion of the population who wouldn't want to visit the home of another club on a non-matchday.

It's low down the list of priorities but I can't see many people not wanting to see a band because of where the gig is.

Yeah, plenty of bands used to play at the Villa Leisure Centre until 20-odd years ago and I'd expect this to be around the same size so I doubt it would be an issue.  Probably more similar sized venues providing competition in town now though.

[Hookeysmith]

Isn't Witton primarily used by away fans. I walk that way to the car and there are alwaysa lotos them queueing

[amfy]

Pretty much all the Witton trains also stop at Aston but not all the Aston trains stop at Witton.
So it’s a mathmatical certainly.

That & the cross city line 5th ing

[paul_e]

I was interested to read that Aston station is utilised more than Witton station on match days:

"More fans currently use Aston Station (65%) compared to Witton Station (35%), so we will be looking at how to better manage usage, queuing, and access to train services"

Can anyone local shed any light on why this might be the case? Is it just access to the Cross City Line?

I'd guess there's a couple of reasons.

First, you have the cross city trains towards Lichfield & Redditch going from there.  As a byproduct of that, it'll also have a more frequent service than Witton.

Yep, currently 4 6 carriage trains an hour on the cross city line, compared to 2 on the walsall line and I think they're only 3 carriages.

[Chris Harte]

Like others, I can't help thinking the Villa Live building looks too small.

I'm also wondering what the future will be for the Holte Hotel with all this going on. It'll be a bit out on it own with all these redevelopments. Maybe it could be repurposed as a hotel.

And on the anagram theme, I just noticed that Holte is an anagram of hotel.

[eamonn]

Only now? Come on Chris, aren't you a Wordle guru like the rest of them?

[pauliewalnuts]

These images are only indicative - they mean "this is roughly where stuff will be".

Nothing more than that. There's no need to invest too much in what the buildings will look like, what the cladding will be, how the public spaces will look.

These drawings are not supposed to show that - they're basically hypothetical "this is more or less what we want to do".

I'd say the only bit which is certain is the 'Villa Live' title, all the rest - in what they have released to us, that is, it doesn't mean they don't have more detailed projections, i am sure they do - is just highly indicative.

There's no point having any reaction over details at this point.

[Chris Smith]

Like others, I can't help thinking the Villa Live building looks too small.

I'm also wondering what the future will be for the Holte Hotel with all this going on. It'll be a bit out on it own with all these redevelopments. Maybe it could be repurposed as a hotel.

And on the anagram theme, I just noticed that Holte is an anagram of hotel.

I can’t see it will change much, that and the Holte Suite will still be needed at that end of the ground, this new facility won’t everyone in.

[Chris Harte]

Only now? Come on Chris, aren't you a Wordle guru like the rest of them?

Lol, no. I've got better things to do with my time.

[Chris Harte]

I can’t see it will change much, that and the Holte Suite will still be needed at that end of the ground, this new facility won’t everyone in.

Yeah, I hope so. Of course, Holte Suite is used for business conferences and other events during the week

[Des Little]

Let’s hope they crack the staffing/serving issues whilst they’re at it...

[Chris Smith]

Let’s hope they crack the staffing/serving issues whilst they’re at it...

Hopefully if it becomes a venue for more than just match days they might be able to employ their own people rather than rely on agency staff.

[Dogtanian]

Let’s hope they crack the staffing/serving issues whilst they’re at it...

I put this in my survey comments. You shouldn’t have to miss the end of the first half or the start of the second to buy a pie.

Faster service, shorter queues, less missed action, more sales.