Toffee’s Fans Witness Their First Game At Bramley Moore Dock

Everton FC has successfully completed the first of three test events at its new 52,888 seater waterfront stadium. The club welcomed 10,000 spectators to the Bramley Moore Dock stadium last night with the aim of gaining a safety certificate from Liverpool City Council for the new ground at full capacity. Fans eagerly filled the South Stand of the ground for last night’s friendly between Everton U18s and Wigan Athletic U18s.

The event saw the introduction of new parking restrictions around the ground, which has led to more than 7,000 residents and businesses signing a petition calling on the council to re examine the scheme. It restricts parking as far south to the city centre and north to Bootle, not just on match days but throughout the week, which is the main reason of complaint from local residents.

A new crowd marshalling area at the nearby Sandhills rail station was used for the first time to handle access to the platform, while traffic lanes serving access to the city, were restricted to just one lane on full time, allowing more room for fans to make their way to the station, or to a fleet of buses. However, there were several reports of fans frustrated with limited options for travelling to the stadium, and long queuing times to enter.

Limited services were open at the ground last night, including food and soft drink vendors, as the ground currently has no licence to serve alcohol.

The test event passed off successfully with fans able to access the riverside ground and around the South Stand complex before entering the stadia using new e ticket technology.

A further 25,000 capacity test event is scheduled for next month, followed by a full capacity event at a later date before the stadium opens officially for the 2025 26 football season when Everton will relocate from its home since 1892 at Goodison Park to the fabulous new arena at Bramley Moore Dock.