In the previous year what turned out to be an abortive scheme had been reported for Eastville to be converted into a massive indoor sports arena with a 25,000-seat capacity at a cost of £10m. In addition to football on an artificial surface, greyhound racing would continue along with speedway and athletics. It was to be financed by profits from a Tesco superstore to be built nearby. However, as well as doubts over whether the Football League would permit indoor football, it was said that Rovers would not be prepared to pay for the use of it.
The following season was an even more undistinguished one for City and they were again in the lower half of the league at the beginning of April 1985 on their next visit to Eastville, but a defensively-minded side came away with a goalless draw. The same result was achieved the following September after the replacement of Colin Murphy as manager by his assistant John Pickering. The largest-ever attendance to see City play at Eastville had happened on their first visit to the ground, and the exact opposite saw the lowest-ever on what turned out to be their last game there. Just 3,067 turned up to see bottom-of-the-table Rovers take on the 15th-placed Imps in a game said to be lacking in entertainment. The ground itself had seen its capacity cut by then to just 12,500 due to a combination of the effects of the fire at the ground in 1980 and new safety regulations brought in after the Bradford fire.
Rovers recovered to finish the 1985/86 season in 16th place but by then, with the club losing £2,000 a match by playing at Eastville and faced with continued rent increases they once more began negotiating with Bristol City to play at Ashton Gate. However, apart from there again being no enthusiasm from supporters of either club for the ground share, a figure of over £60,000 a year in rent was quoted which the club were unable or unwilling to meet. Consequently, they started to look elsewhere and considered playing 35 miles away at Gloucester where Southern League Midland Division side Gloucester City were about to open a new stadium. In the end they moved just thirteen miles away to share the Twerton Park ground of Conference-level club Bath City
The last ever Bristol Rovers game to be played at Eastville took place on 26 April 1986 when 3,576 saw a 1-1 draw with Chesterfield.
The same year saw yet another sport take place at Eastville when the Bristol Bombers American Football team played there before folding soon afterwards.
Shortly after the departure of Bristol Rovers, the Tote End was demolished, but greyhound racing continued to flourish at the stadium, and in fact with football no longer encroaching onto the schedule more meetings were able to be held making it the busiest track in Britain. However, the 1990s saw a general decline in the popularity of greyhound racing and after the Bristol Greyhound Racing Company changed its name to the Bristol Stadium Company, it came to an end when the stadium was closed in October 1997 by which time only the North Stand was still in use. Plans for a new greyhound stadium in Bristol came to nothing and the operation was moved to Swindon.
The company now known as the BS Group sold Eastville for development, with the remaining parts of the ground demolished in 1998 apart from one floodlight pylon which was left standing as a memento. In 1999 an IKEA superstore was opened on the site and in 2003 the last link with the old ground went when the floodlight pylon had to be taken down for safety reasons.
Following their last visit to Eastville in 1985 Lincoln City started on a slide that led out of the Football League, meaning it was over twelve years before their next meeting with Bristol Rovers. By then, after ten seasons at Twerton Park, the Pirates had returned to their home city to share the Memorial Ground home of Bristol Rugby Club and since 1998 that has been the venue for their home games with City.
Compared to some away grounds Lincoln City’s record at Eastville is not a bad one, with only five defeats out of the thirteen games played there, the rest being equally divided between wins and draws. Despite this, the most frequently occurring result at the ground was a 3-0 defeat, this happening on three occasions. In fact, three goals were conceded in almost half of the games played with City only managing to score that many on one occasion. No City player managed to score more than one goal at the ground with a total of thirteen scored in the thirteen games.
Photos:
Tote End in 1975 from:
1927
South stand and Tote End in 1930
View from east end in 1979
Steps to the Tote End
Tote end 1986
North stand 1997
View from site of Tote end 1997
Demolition of North stand
All the above from:
www.bristolroversmemorabilia.weebly.com
South stand 1970s from:
East terracing from:
IKEA from: