How to get to the City Ground is the question every first-time visitor to Nottingham Forest ends up asking, and the answer is more interesting than most. The Reds play on the south bank of the River Trent, a mile from Nottingham’s railway station, a few hundred yards from another Football League ground and directly next door to a Test cricket venue. It is one of the most walkable stadiums in the Premier League — provided you do not try to drive to the front door.
Where is the City Ground?
The City Ground sits on Pavilion Road in West Bridgford, postcode NG2 5FJ. One of football’s favourite bits of trivia applies here: despite the name, the ground is not in the city of Nottingham at all. It stands on the Rushcliffe side of the Trent, which is why the borough council — and not Nottingham City Council — is the authority handling Forest’s redevelopment plans.
The river is the landmark that orients everything. Trent Bridge carries the A60 over the water from the city centre and lands you within a two-minute walk of the turnstiles. Trent Bridge cricket ground, home of Nottinghamshire, is immediately behind the stadium. And across the river, roughly 300 yards away as the crow flies, is Meadow Lane — Notts County’s home, and the reason Forest and County are the closest pair of professional clubs in English football. Our guide to Forest’s rivalries explains what that proximity has meant over 160 years.
Getting to the City Ground by train
This is the easy one, and it is what most away supporters should do. Nottingham railway station is about a mile from the ground — a walk of roughly 15 to 20 minutes.
Come out of the station’s southern exit, head for the river and follow the crowd along London Road and over Trent Bridge; the stadium appears on your left as you cross. There is an alternative route via Meadows Way and the riverside path along Victoria Embankment, which is quieter, greener and adds only a few minutes. Both are flat, well-lit and busy on matchdays.
Nottingham station is served by direct services from London St Pancras, Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester and Norwich, which makes the City Ground one of the more straightforward Premier League away days by rail. It is also the main interchange for Nottingham’s tram network, NET, if you are arriving from the park and ride sites on the edge of the city.
Driving and parking at the City Ground
Here is the honest advice: do not plan on parking near the ground. There is no general supporter car park at the City Ground, and the residential streets of West Bridgford operate permit-only restrictions on matchdays that are actively enforced. Every season a handful of visiting fans return to a ticket they did not expect.
If you are driving, the sensible approach is to leave the car on the city side of the river or out on Nottingham’s park and ride network and complete the journey on foot or by tram. Coming from the M1, junction 24 is the usual exit, roughly ten miles out via the A453. From the east or west, the A52 brings you in past the ground; the A6011 Radcliffe Road runs along the back of it. East Midlands Airport is around 15 miles away.
Sat-nav postcode NG2 5FJ will take you to the stadium itself, which is useful for orientation and useless for parking. Set your destination to wherever you actually intend to leave the car.
Which stand will I be in?
The City Ground has four stands, and knowing which is which saves a lap of the stadium in the rain:
- Brian Clough Stand — the largest, running the length of the pitch on the far side from the river.
- Trent End — behind the goal at the river end, traditionally the loudest home section.
- Peter Taylor Stand — the old Main Stand, on the riverside, housing the directors and the media.
- Bridgford Stand — the opposite end, with its famously clipped upper tier, kept low so as not to overshadow the neighbouring cricket ground.
Away supporters are housed in the lower tier of the Bridgford Stand, closest to the Radcliffe Road side. If you want the full breakdown of the stands and how the ground came to look the way it does, we have a separate City Ground guide.
Before and after the game
The stretch between Trent Bridge and the stadium is one of the better pre-match walks in the division, with bars along the embankment on both banks of the river and a cluster of pubs around the cricket ground. They fill early on a 3pm Saturday and very early for a televised kick-off, so arriving an hour or two before the game is not over-cautious. West Bridgford’s Central Avenue, five minutes beyond the ground, is quieter and has more room.
Leaving is the part worth planning. With just over 30,000 people funnelling towards two river crossings at once, the walk back to the station takes noticeably longer than the walk down. If you are on a tight train connection, either leave a few minutes early or accept that you will be waiting for the next one.
What the expansion would change
All of the above is about to be tested. Forest have proposed redeveloping the City Ground to take the capacity from just over 31,000 to around 52,500, and the Nottingham Post has reported that Rushcliffe Borough Council’s planning committee will meet at 6pm on Wednesday 16 September to decide on the plans. No decision has been made yet.
Crowd movement is one of the outstanding issues in the process, and it is easy to see why: the routes described above already work hard on a full house, and Trent Bridge is the pinch point. Debate around the scheme has repeatedly returned to whether the area needs another crossing of the river before a ground of that size makes sense. Our coverage of the expansion process follows where that stands.
For now, though, the practical answer to how to get to the City Ground has not changed in decades. Get the train to Nottingham, walk towards the river, cross Trent Bridge and you are there. Ticket information, accessibility provision and matchday travel advice are published by the club on the official Nottingham Forest website.
