Cheriton Road football ground's main stand after it was destroyed by fire in 1973
This stand site is unlucky. The original was brought from Folkestone harbour in 1919, needed a new roof in 1933. This eventually was burned down in 1973. The replacement, an 800-seat shallow roofed stand, was paid for by the local council, had the roof blown off in a gale in 2013, and subsequently had to be dismantled. The site is now just a concrete terrace, so not much left to fall apart.
It’s not my favourite stand either. I’ve been a regular on the other 3 sides of the ground but not in or on this one. I’m just not a ‘main stand’ type person. Because of that it’s probably the stand that I’ve looked at the most and photographed the most.
The photo of the burned down stand is from 1973. Surprisingly, this is one decade where I’ve struggled to get many photographs of the ground. This is a little odd as I recall that era being a time when many people were beginning to get relatively cheap colour film cameras.
Personally I have many colour print photographs of many things, but despite this being the time when I started watching football at Cheriton Road, I don’t think I have any photographs of the football ground.