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Goldstone Retail Park, Newtown Road, HOVE, BN3 7PN

Built in the late 1990s on the site of the former Goldstone Ground after a carpetbagging chairman had sold the ground to benefit himself rather than the club. Up to 1997 this view from Hove Park across the Old Shoreham Road would have taken in the rear of the popular North Stand. Now it is another soulless retail park.

The car showroom on the right nearest the camera was built in the late 1960s on the site of Goldstone Barn once part of a former farm that occupied this site until given up in the 1920s. The outbuildings survived for another forty years before they were demolished. Beyond is a new warehouse which is part of Goldstone Retail Park and stands on the site of the Goldstone Ground, former home of Brighton & Hove Albion, Until 1997 this view included the main west stand which housed the club's offices.

Linking Newtown Road with Old Shoreham Road (A270). The nondescript grey warehouses are part of the Goldstone Retail Park built on the site of the former Goldstone Ground, home of Brighton & Hove Albion. Consequently, up to 1997 the view would have included the South Stand and the East Terrace with enough of a gap to view the pitch.

The home of Brighton and Hove Albion FC for 95 years from 1902 to 1997, the Goldstone was sold in 1997 by the then board of directors for a retail re-development of the site with no plans for an alternative stadium in Sussex for the club being in place. The Goldstone was unique in being the only Football League ground in Sussex and was a much-loved asset, having been visited by countless thousands of football fans down the years. In 1997 the pitch was ripped up and the stands and buildings demolished to be replaced by yet another bland cheerless and characterless retail park. This view was taken looking towards the North Stand after what was going to be the club's last but one home game, against Carlisle United, in 1996. In the event the club were subsequently allowed to stay on for another season, but the picture shows the weight of feeling at the time with numerous supporters demonstrating against the proposed closure, and venting their anger at the directors' box. After more than 8 years of a fragile, precarious, and peripatetic existence, planning permission for a new 23,000 seater community stadium at Falmer on the north eastern outskirts of Brighton was finally granted in October 2005, and it is hoped that the club will be able to play its first game there at the start of the 2008/09 season. Currently the club's home is the totally unsuitable Withdean Stadium, with its limited crowd capacity, open and exposed temporary stand seating, and Portakabin offices and facilities. See Simon's Image

Goldstone Retail Park, on Old Shoreham Road. Current occupants include pet supplies, clothes, beds, furniture and catering outlets.

On the corner of Goldstone Lane the building has been empty for a while.

Just over a century ago this was a farm track that served Goldstone Farm and Goldstone House. The farm was given up in the 1920s and the land sold for development. By then the Goldstone Ground had been constructed which was home to Brighton & Hove Albion until 1997 when a carpetbagging chairman sold the ground for personal gain. The site is now occupied by the retail warehouses in the distance. The houses on the right were built in the 1970s on the site of an old agricultural labourers cottage which had stood within the grounds of Goldstone House. The lane now connects Newtown Road with Old Shoreham Road, the A270.

A Peugoet dealership located on the bend of Newtown Road as it turns north towards Old Shoreham Road. The dealership stands on the site of the former Goldstone Barn that was built around 1798 and demolished towards the end of the 1960s after which the plot appeared to remain empty for a decade or so. See: Goldstone Farm in 1880 - http://regencysociety-jamesgray.com/volume16/source/jg_16_073.html Goldstone Barn in 1968 - http://regencysociety-jamesgray.com/volume16/source/jg_16_102.html

For 95 years up to 1997, Brighton and Hove Albion fans walked up this lane to see their team play at the Goldstone Ground