Key facts
Club: Nottingham Forest FC | Opening: 1898 | Capacity: 30,576 seats
History and description
Nottingham Forest moved to the City Ground in 1898 after unsuccessfully trying to find a permanent home in previous decades.
The City Ground officially opened on 3 September 1898. It was initially a rather small ground consisting of mainly wooden stands.
Some improvements were made in the following decades, mainly in expanding the terraces, but the ground only really started to develop from the 1950s. The first was a new East Stand (later Executive Stand), which opened in 1957.
The opening match of the new East Stand also meant a new record attendance for the City Ground. A total of 49,946 people saw Forest play Manchester United that day.
In 1962, a fire heavily damaged the wooden main stand, but it was successfully restored. Six years later, another fire completely destroyed the same stand, which was subsequently rebuilt. The stadium could at that time hold about 43,000 people, of which 17,500 seated.
The successes of the Brian Clough era made further developments possible, resulting in the construction of the large Executive Stand in 1980. The Executive Stand got later renamed Brian Clough Stand in honour of Forest’s most successful manager.
Developments continued in the early 1990s with the construction of a new all-seater stand at the Bridgford End and in 1994 with the new Trent End at the other end of the ground.
The City Ground was one of the playing venues of the 1996 European Championships, during which it hosted three first-round group matches.
In recent years, the club has investigated the possibilities of building a new stadium. These at one time became rather concrete as part of the England 2018 World Cup bid, but the failed bid and recurring resident opposition at proposed sites have thus far halted any progress.
(photos of the present City Ground below)
How to get to the City Ground
The City Ground is located in the south of Nottingham on the banks of the river Trent. It is situated at just 1.5 miles from Nottingham’s rail station and only slightly further from Nottingham’s Market Square. The walk will generally take less than half an hour.
The stadium is across the road from the historic Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, and lies only a few hundred metres away from Meadow Lane, the home of Notts County that is located on the other side of the river, making them the two closest stadiums in England.
Many buses pass the City Ground. Every few minutes a bus will leave the centre that will bring you to the ground, including line 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 22, and 90. The journey takes less than 10 minutes.
Skylink buses connect the stadium with East Midlands Airport. The journey takes about 35 minutes.
Address: The City Ground, Nottingham NG2 5FJ
Nottingham Forest Tickets
Tickets for Nottingham Forest games can be purchased online, by phone +44 (0) 115 982 4388, or at the club’s Ticket Office at the City Ground.
On the day of the match tickets can be bought from the ticket office at the Brian Clough Stand. Forest only very occasionally sell out.
Ticket prices can depend on the opponent, but expect to pay £24.00 to £26.00 for ticket.
For more information call +44 (0) 871 226 1980 or email tickets@nottinghamforest.co.uk.
City Ground stadium tours
Nottingham Forest offers behind-the-scenes stadium tours that include the trophy room, press room, dugouts, police cells, and the control room. The tour lasts about 60 minutes.
Tours run a few times a month usually at 10:00 am on a weekday. Check the official website for the current schedule.
Bookings are required and can be made via email tours@nottinghamforest.co.uk. The tour costs £8.00.
Photos of the City Ground
Relevant Internet links
Nottinghamforest.co.uk – Official website of Nottingham Forest FC.
Experiencenottinghamshire.com – Official tourism website for Nottinghamshire.
Triptimes.co.uk – Journey planner for Nottingham area public transport.
Nctx.co.uk – Nottingham area public transport travel information.
Nationalrail.co.uk – Train times and fare information.
3 comments
Love the place…
I am 13 and this is the best place on earth for me as I love forest and even though I’m terrified of heights the staff were really understanding and empathetic. My little brother was with me on my first ever match and on the train the way home he said that was way better than skegness and that was huge.
Quite impressed with this ground, around the ground seemed real nice. The ground itself lacked atmosphere probably due to Forest position at the time. But the Brian Clough stand is iconic, the away end seems well designed and I like how it lowers to fit in with the other side of ground. All in all a great ground, disappointed though on a boiling hot day someone turned the water off in the ground???