Brentford builds a bridge for Bees
London, Jan 21 (EFE).- Brentford Football Club are known for their attention to detail when it comes to player transfers, tracking statistics and analyzing data on the pitch but the London-based club has taken its ethos and applied it off the pitch, too, by building a new bridge to the benefit of their most important asset — the fans, known as the Bees.
Brentford’s new Community Stadium in West London is sandwiched between two railway tracks and a series of apartment buildings but by constructing a bridge to connect it to the nearby main road, the club has not only shortened fan journeys but helped contribute to the community it represents.
The bridge went into development in 2018 and was opened the following year in time for the inauguration of the new stadium. Fans now have another access point to the football grounds but local residents also benefit from a new shortcut that cuts the travel time to the area’s main Tube station Kew Bridge.
The Kew area, home to London’s Kew Gardens, is growing quickly and the area around the new stadium is no exception.
When the final touches were being put on the bridge in 2019, the area around the stadium was a construction zone, dotted with cranes and milling with workers but now it is practically imperceptible from street level, as London’s norms require it.
In a city dominated by low and older housing, tall apartment buildings are a way to ease the pressure of soaring rent in the UK capital. The result is a stadium encircled by apartment blocks, where rent can be as high as 2,000 pounds per home.
To take on the project, Brentford needed the green-light from a number of institutions like Network Rail and the affected local councils.
But now when fans cross the bridge, they come face-to-face with the club’s emblematic bee emblazoned on the side of the new stadium. EFE
msg/ta/jt
