Oxstalls sports facilities update – 11.10.23

University of Gloucestershire is preparing to return to normal opening hours at its Arena and all-weather pitches from Monday, 16 October.

A huge amount of activity has been underway since the announcement that Aspire Sports and Cultural Trust, which managed the facility for the University outside of daytime hours, announced it was going into liquidation on 29 September.

While the University was quickly able to reopen the Arena for teaching and training and matches for students and partner schools on weekdays, the Sports Arena has been closed to the public since then.

But it will now be able to honour existing bookings for sports activity at the Arena and 3G football and 3G rugby pitches after putting in place additional staffing and facilities arrangements following positive discussions with Gloucester City Council. While current arrangements will be reviewed at the end of November, bookings beyond this point are not set to be impacted if a new provider is appointed.

Clubs with existing bookings from Monday, 16 October, should e-mail [email protected] to confirm these, and a range of information that would previously have been supplied to Aspire will be required. These include:

Club name:

Contact name:

Contact number:

Contact email:

Pitch or courts booking (Arena, Football 3G, Rugby 3G):

Pitch size (full, 1/3, 2/3):

Day/s of the week:

Time/s of booking:

Additional information (floodlights, changing facilities required, etc)

Clubs will need to supply proof of payment and booking confirmation that would have come from Aspire. They will also need to evidence that they have the required policies in place (Safeguarding, Public Liability, First Aid, etc)

Staff will be available at the Arena on 12 and 13 October from 9am until 8pm to discuss bookings. Clubs are asked to bring along the evidence listed above.  

Clubs will be charged for bookings in October unless they are able to provide proof of payment to Aspire. Charging rates will remain the same as Aspire had charged. All bookings for 1 November onwards will need to be paid in full, and clubs will need to recover any monies paid in advance through Aspire’s liquidator. The University will ensure the latest information is provided here, along with information about arrangements for booking and changing facilities.

The above arrangements are likely to be in place for an interim period until the end of November – when the arrangement will be reviewed. We will ensure the latest information is provided on this webpage, along with information about arrangements for changing and booking facilities.

Arena opening hours:

Monday to Friday: 9am to 10pm

Saturday: 9am to 7pm

Sunday: 9am to 8pm

As the Trust managed and received all community bookings and payments for the Arena and pitches, the liquidators will be responsible for any refunds. People and organisations who have paid for advance bookings will be contacted by a Trust representative.

The University does not manage bookings for the outdoor grass pitches, tennis courts, Astro football and hockey pitches, as these are owned by Gloucester City Council.

The council’s 2G and 3G pitches are now open for pre-booked matches, with rugby, football and hockey matches and training taking place.

This weekend the Park Run is set to return to Oxstalls, with grass pitch bookings for adult and youth football clubs already resumed.

Bookings for October 13 and 14

This weekend (October 13 and 14), existing bookings for the 3G and 4G football and rugby pitches and the outdoor grass pitches will go ahead. 

To confirm these weekend bookings only and supply the necessary information*, e-mail [email protected]

*Note that bookers will need to provide evidence of their booking, proof of payment to Aspire, and give assurance that they have trained first aiders in place. Currently, only limited changing room facilities are available. No toilet facilities will be available for this weekend. If clubs and groups can provide evidence of the booking and proof of payment to Aspire, they will not be charged for this weekend’s use.

Events at the Arena (i.e. booked events that are not training or matches)

Please note that it will not be possible to fulfil all existing events booking, i.e. events outside of training and matches, at the Arena in the first instance. E-mail [email protected] to provide more information and discuss possible solutions.

University use

All scheduled teaching, Students’ Union training and matches, partner school activity and staff wellbeing activities will continue at the Sports Arena and 3G and 4G pitches. The Students’ Union timetable will return to normal on Monday, October 16.

All other sports and recreation facilities on our university campuses are open as usual and none of our sports courses are affected.