Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury Town safe standing to be installed by Lionel Richie gig

A safe standing scheme at Shrewsbury Town Football Club will be completed in time for the Lionel Richie concert next month.

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It will make the club the first in England and Wales to add 'rail seats' to their stadium in a bid to improve safety.

The rails arrived at Montgomery Waters Meadow last week and will be fully installed by the end of the month, according to the club's chief executive Brian Caldwell.

Mr Caldwell said: "Because of the play off games, the work is now scheduled to start slightly earlier than planned.

"We'll start taking out the seats next Monday, then we'll commence installing the safe standing which is expected to be done within 10 days to two weeks.

"By the end of the month, we should have the safe standing area ready for use and the first event it will be used at is the Lionel Richie concert.

"It is flexible in the way that it can be used as seating for the concert if required."

The club will be the first in the country to introduce a safe standing zone - something Mr Caldwell is immensely proud of - and hopes others will follow suit.

"I'm just delighted that we're going to be the first," he added.

"We're leading the way which will hopefully put Shrewsbury on the map - not just the club but the town as well."

The idea was first put forward by the Shrewsbury Town supporters' parliament in February 2017.

Roger Groves, joint chairman, said: "It's been a long journey to get the safe standing so we're so excited to finally have them here.

"It all started with a conversation I had at a safe standing roadshow.

"Within seven days we had all the key players around the table and asked if they thought it was possible for Shrewsbury and it snowballed from there."