Utilita Bowl — Attraction in Eastleigh

Hampshire had played at their Northlands Road headquarters in Southampton since 1885, as well as using Dean Park in Bournemouth, the United Services Recreation Ground in Portsmouth and May's Bounty in Basingstoke as regular outground venues. Northlands Road was a cramped location, surrounded by residential buildings which meant expanding the ground was largely impossible. Hampshire also wanted to encourage international cricket to the county, which would not have been possible with Northlands Road. Talk of a move from Newlands Road had begun as early as 1987, with Mark Nicholas discussing the idea with then Hampshire vice-chairman Bill Hughes in a Leeds restaurant.[3] A site was eventually selected just outside Southampton, in West End, on a gently sloping field owned by Queen's College, Oxford located between the M27 motorway and Telegraph Woods.[4]

The ground was designed by architect Sir Michael Hopkins, whose design of the centrepiece pavilion with its tented roof was reminiscent of the Mound Stand at Lord's, which Hopkins also designed.[5] Construction started on the ground in 1997, however, the budget for the ground's construction soon spiralled out of control, threatening the very existence of the club. Further funding was secured as construction continued until its first stage was completed in time for the 2001 season.[6] Its final cost was £20 million, with a large part of that cost being secured with Lottery and Sport England funding, while the club's financial future was secured by the incoming chairman, Rod Bransgrove.

The ground is built into the side of the gently sloping hill on which it is located, resulting in an amphitheatre bowl. The initial name for the ground was announced in 2000 as The Rose Bowl, in recognition of the club's rose and crown logo and the bowl-shaped nature of...

We went here to see the Arctic Monkeys gig, which was an awesome night however the Ageas bowl is a nightmare! First of all, parking options are atrocious, we opted to rent a parking space from someone half an hour walk away, finding the venue was fairly easy, quite a walk even from the main road. It looks like a cool place, the security staff were friendly and approachable. The alcoholic drinks are minimum of £7.50 and bottled water is £3 however you're not allowed the bottle, it's poured into a cup. We were also advised on the ticket that no food or drinks were allowed to be taken in the venue and the queues were insane in 26 degree heat to just get some water is horrible management. Food was extortionate too, but there was a lot of options which is good. We paid £31 for two bowls of chips, small fried chicken pieces and lettuce. There's a lot of seating although you have to pay to use it. So the worst part was at the end of the gig around 25,000 all left the venue at the same time through the one exit, it was almost a stampede, people were climbing out through fences and hedges, barriers were knocked down, people were scaling the hill and subsequently falling and injuring themselves. They all spilled out onto the road and traffic had to come to a standstill. You would think that in 22 years since Ageas bowl has been in use they would have figured out a better solution than to just have everyone leave at the same time through...

This review is solely given on the shambles that was the organisation of the Arctic Monkeys concert. Ultimately a great venue and hotel (for cricket!) but if they’re planning on using it for stadium concerts they have to improve their capacity for managing crowds, toilets, refreshments and the fact that there is ZERO phone coverage. If you do have an emergency or issue like I did, each and every steward will give a different answer and bump you off to someone else so they don’t have the hassle. I was told that if I left I would not get readmitted and I was told to CHOOSE between my husband outside the stadium or my kids inside. Disgusting. My issue could have been dealt with very easily and very quickly if someone had just given me the time of day. There were queues that went the whole breadth of the stadium either for alcohol or the toilet and they never ever went away, in fact they got longer and longer. The ice cream van that had the shortest queue was selling warm WATER for £3 a cup and flat warm coke for the same price (let alone £6 for one scoop of ice cream). The Ageas Bowl is a beautiful venue. They manage to set up a good stage and the gig on its own was great but getting in, getting refreshments and getting out again was a total health and safety hazard and I’m sure the lack of crowd management was illegal. I’ll certainly be thinking twice about going to another gig there....