Cressing Road: Braintree Town FC

From Braintree FC

Currently known as the Rare Breed Meat Co. Stadium because of a sponsorship agreement, Cressing Road first opened its doors in 1923 after having been built as a general sports ground by the Crittall Windows Company. At the time, there was a cinder track at the ground that measured around a quarter of a mile. The first football match at the ground took place on the 15th of September in the year that it opened, with numerous developments following, not least of all because of necessity after the ground fell into a state of disrepair during the mid-1970s, causing the club to play at alternate venues in the area.

The club itself had been formed in 1898 as Manor Works, which was the works team of the Crittall Windows Company. The club took over the fixtures of a fellow local team called Braintree Football Club, then in 1921 the side re-named to become Crittall Athletic so as to be more closely associated with the company that owned it. The move to become Braintree Town was a slow one, starting with a re-naming to Braintree & Crittall Athletic in 1968, then simply Braintree FC in 1981 before adding the ‘Town’ a year later. On the pitch, the club has enjoyed numerous different ups and down irrespective of the name it was playing under.

Stats

Cressing Road Photos

Cressing Road Stadium Seating

Cressing Road Stadium Corner Flag

Cressing Road Seating Plan and Where to Sit

There are four stands in play at Cressing Road at the time of writing. The Main Stand is a covered stand that boasts 552 seats and a terraced section, whilst the Clubhouse End is made up of two uncovered terraces. There is enough room for a little over 1,100 people there. The Quad End is also uncovered and a terrace, promising space for a touch over 1,400 supporters. Finally, the Cressing Road side runs along the side of the pitch and is a terraced area with a capacity of 1,130, of which 755 is under some form of cover.

Braintree Town Ticket Prices

How much your ticket will cost will depending entirely on your personal circumstances. There aren’t really any different prices depending on where in the ground you’re going, although only adults and concessions get a seat. Under-18s get access to the ground in general, meaning that they’re expected to fill up the terraces. Adult tickets cost £10, with concession tickets coming in at £10 and tickets for those under-18 costing £5.

How To Get Braintree Town Tickets

The Braintree Town website is not exactly the most sleek and impressive of sites owned by a lower league side, looking like something put together by someone in the 1990s. Perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, you don’t appear to be able to buy tickets online, which means that at the ground is the best place to head in order to purchase them.

Where to Buy

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Getting To Cressing Road

Train – Around a mile away from Cressing Road is Braintree Railway Station, which is served by trains coming in from London Liverpool Street. Braintree Freeport Station is actually a little bit closer, designed to serve the nearby shopping centre and cinema, but it isn’t that good for the football ground unless you know where you’re going given the fact that the footpath to it is hidden.

Bus – Anyone hoping to get the bus to Cressing Road will want to get to the road that the stadium is named after. Buses 30 and 38A stop reasonably close to the ground, so they’re the ones to look out for.

Car – For supporters that are planning on driving, you’ll want to take the M11 until Junction 8, leaving there in order to get onto the A120 towards Colchester. Follow that for 16 miles, taking the first exit when you reach the first roundabout, which is Cressing Road. Keep going until you see the football ground.

By Air – London Stansted is about 12 miles or so away from Braintree, so that is obviously the best airport to look for if you’re planning on flying in for a game. That being said, Braintree’s location means that any of the London airports will do the job.

Taxi – The fact that the train station is so close to the ground means that most people will probably walk, but if you can’t or don’t want to then you should expect to pay between £5 and £10 for a taxi, depending on what the traffic looks like heading up Cressing Road.

Parking Near Cressing Road

The small car park at the ground costs £2 at the time of writing. The problem is that it closes its doors 30 minutes before kick-off, so if you’re letting getting towards the ground then you won’t be able to park in it. Thankfully, on-street park close to the stadium is decent enough; just keep your eye out for the various parking restrictions that are in place.

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Useful Resources

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Pubs and Bars Near Cressing Road

About Braintree Town

There is a rich history of football clubs being formed as works teams, with Braintree Town being no exception. The club was created as the works side of the Crittall Windows Company, which made steel-framed Windowss. That led to the club being nicknamed The Iron, which is something that has stuck to this day. That is in spite of the fact that the club’s name has changed numerous times, including in 1981 when all links to Crittall were removed and the side became simply Braintree Football Club. The ‘Town’ was added a year later, with the side being known as Braintree Town ever since, along with the nickname of ‘The Iron’.

When the club was first formed, it took over the fixtures of a recently defunct side called Braintree FC, playing in the North Essex League. The was something of a sign of what was to come, with Braintree Town spending the majority of its existence in the lower leagues of the English Football League pyramid. That doesn’t mean that the side hasn’t enjoyed some relative success over the years, though. In the 1959-1960 season, for example, they won the Eastern Counties league and cup double, whilst in 1995-1996 and then again in 2022-2023 they won the Essex Senior Cup. In 2016-2017, Braintree Town made it to the second round of the FA Cup.

Cressing Road History

Cressing Road was built with the aim of being a general sports ground by the parent company of the team that was known as Crittall Athletic at the time, Crittall Windows Company. The location was opened on the 25th of August 1923 as it hosted the fourth annual Crittall Sports & Show, which had previously taken place at the football club’s former ground. A grandstand with 400 seats was built in 1924, with the ground becoming the regular venue for the Essex Junior Cup. A second grandstand was opened around eight years later, whilst floodlights were installed in 1967 and greyhound racing took place there in the same year.

By the middle of the 1970s, the venue had fallen into a state of disrepair. It meant that the club was forced to play its games at other venues because of the state of the pitch. Storm damage to the Main Stand meant that it was removed during the decade. Things didn’t really change until the club won the Eastern Counties League in the 1983-1984 season, at which point improvements began to take place around the venue. New terracing was installed in the 2011-2012 campaign, which helped to continue the improvements to the venue that have gone on across each decade since that 1970s nadir.

Future Developments

As long ago as 2008, Braintree Town had plans to move to a new stadium. Although nothing happened on that front, in 2020 the club’s then-Chairman, Lee Harding, confirmed that they were still hoping to move away to a purpose-built community venue. For their part, the local council have plans to put new homes on the site of the current Cressing Road ground, but there is nothing immediate in the pipeline regarding this. Even so, if you’re particularly keen to get along to Cressing Road at some point then you might want to do it sooner rather than later. Harding declared in 2020 that his target is to deliver the new stadium before he dies.