Local residents living next to Grimsby’s Blundell Park stadium reveals to the media why it’s always a nightmare for them.
The 125-year-old stadium, one of the oldest in the Football League, brings vibrant community spirit but it also is seemingly bringing significant headaches for some.
Members of the public who live in the area of the ground, have been reporting rowdy fans, parking chaos, and antisocial behaviour like littering and public urination, especially on match days.
‘People think I’m mad’: Locals living next to a football stadium reveal why it’s a nightmare… and even worse if the club win https://t.co/g1WgvmjIth
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) May 10, 2025
47 year old John Findlay, 47, a teacher who has lived just yards from the turnstiles for the past 22 years, said he bought his home when he heard rumours that the League Two club was looking to relocate.
He said, per the Daily Mail: ‘They were talking about building a new ground back then.
‘I thought they’d redevelop the ground into a cul-de-sac with houses. I thought it would be a good investment – but two decades later, the stadium’s still here.
‘It’s a small stadium boxed in by houses. There’s no space for cars, no space for crowds, and no space for the police to control what’s going on. You get people drinking in the street, chucking bottles.
‘One Tuesday night match, a car drove into a group of fans – and others started piling on, smashing its windows in.
‘It’s always been pretty bad but as they’ve gone back up the leagues it has got worse.
‘One pain is parking. More so on a match-day but the ground also gets used as a venue through the week, so when there’s an event on, club staff try to monopolise the whole street as a car park.’
Julie Edwards, 72, who has lived next to the ground for than half a century, said: ‘People say I’m mad to live next to a football stadium.
‘We get plenty of footballs coming over. One even broke my greenhouse once, but the club got it repaired, to be fair.
‘The players’ language when they come into the car park after a match can be quite colourful. They used to keep things clean, but not as much anymore.
‘Cigarette ends blow up the alleyway, which isn’t pleasant, and the car park is a mess at the moment.
‘Matchdays are still difficult if you want to go out in the car – you have to plan it carefully, or it’s a nightmare. We’re lucky to have a driveway, but parking is still a problem. If people want to visit, we tell them not to come when the football is on.
‘You can hear the cheering, and at Christmas it’s lovely because you can hear them singing. The season’s ended now, so it’ll be peaceful for a few months.’
One resident, who is nameless, told how the club’s car park is a haven for antisocial behaviour long after the final whistle has been blown, claiming he’s seen drug dealers, prostitutes and youths blaring loud music on the players’ car park out of hours.
He said: ‘I don’t have a problem with match-goers; it’s the people who use the stadium car park after hours. The club won’t put a gate up to stop people misusing the car park.
‘I’ve complained to the club so many times, but they just fob me off. It feels like they’re taking the mick – they spend thousands on players’ wages but won’t install a gate.’
Blundell Park , home of #gtfc @officialgtfc pic.twitter.com/Ms1Ww4WYwW
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View over Blundell Park, the home of Grimsby Town #GTFC pic.twitter.com/8ZVbWELoIq
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Justine Cox, 54, meanwhile is putting up with it, saying : ‘This street’s got about 28 houses. On a match-day, people scrap for spaces. It’s a nightmare. But my mum lives across the road and she loves the hustle and bustle. She’s 78 and still gets excited about it.
‘If you can put up with the parking every other Saturday and the odd Tuesday night, then it’s fine.
‘We grew up on these streets, so we’re used to it. Back then, the club was good and played some big teams.
‘I remember once Vinnie Jones knocked on our door trying to find the owner of a van blocking the team bus. I felt sorry for the van owner — he wasn’t someone you wanted to mess with.
‘You don’t get much trouble now, but back then there were regular fights. It’s a lot more civilised these days.
‘When my daughter turned seven, fans saw the birthday balloons outside and 70 blokes ended up singing Happy Birthday to her in the street. It was lovely.’
However, there have been some residents that love the matchday atmopshere in the area, with 48 year old Theresa Malviya saying: ‘You can sit in the garden and hear all the cheering and jeering. When they score, sometimes the windows rattle.
‘My husband’s a season ticket holder so we just go with it.
‘Sometimes people use our bins for their rubbish, but I’d rather that than see it in the street. And McDonald’s and the council usually send people out to tidy up. There’s probably more trouble in town after a game than there is here.
‘It’s a community club – people don’t come here to cause problems.’
And Jim Crooks, 82, who has a home is right next to Blundell Park, said: ‘It’s not a problem living here at all. You can occasionally hear the fans through the double glazing when they score – but that doesn’t seem to be very often!
‘I don’t like football myself, so it’s odd living next to a stadium. People say I’m mad, but it doesn’t really bother me, other than the parking.
‘You daren’t move your car on a match-day because you might not find a spot when you get back. My solution is just not to go out when there’s a game on.’
WHAT HAVE THE CLUB HAD TO SAY?
A spokesman for Grimsby Town FC has told the Daily Mail: ‘ Where possible the Club takes every effort to consider and mitigate the impact that a matchday event may have on local residents.
‘This can prove challenging, given the logistics of the stadium and proximity of residential housing to the stadium footprint.
‘Parking and matchday access being the biggest challenge, and as such, is regularly raised at board level to discuss ways of mitigating this.
‘We work closely with police and the local authority and have recently engaged with NELC parking enforcement to reduce the amount of unauthorised vehicles parking in and around residential areas on matchdays.
‘In addition, we have dedicated matchday staff who clear litter from the external footprint of the stadium post-match in the hope of reducing match day escaping waste.
‘We do regularly engage with our surrounding local residents and where possible look to ways of reducing the impact of what we deliver has on them.
‘We have CCTV coverage over all of our external parking areas, in which is accessible to the police should they request it, however the Club has not observed any illegal activity within these areas.’
