Written by Max
Hospitality #2
Saturday 27th September 2025
NPL Division One Midlands (Step 4)
Belper Town 1-0 Wellingborough Town
Attendance: 601
Hospitality ticket: £45
They say time flies when you’re having fun, and we have the most fun when visiting new football grounds in new places! Somehow 5 years have sped past since we came up with the idea for this blog back in 2020, and thanks mainly to the 71 grounds we have reviewed doing this, I found myself on 99 grounds visited.
I thought long and hard about where we should go to bring up the 3 figures. Could it be a trip to Anfield, or maybe the San Siro? Truthfully, none of these grounds even crossed my mind as one of the main things have learnt on our travels is how much we both prefer visiting non-league clubs. In the end it was an easy choice as Belper Town’s Christchurch Meadow ground is one that has been recommended to us hundreds of times in the past 5 years, and yet somehow we had never made the 45 minute trip to tick it off.
Even more appealing was the fact that the club have recently started doing matchday hospitality. This is something you rarely see this low down the pyramid so I thought I would treat us and bring up the milestone in style!
We arrived at the ground just after 1pm where we were greeted at the gate and told to make our way to the clubhouse. After a lap of the ground and a few photos taken of the views behind the goal (more on them later!) we made our way into the bar.
There we were once again greeted by a member of staff who showed us to our table which was a small cordoned off area of the bar. On our table was a complimentary matchday programme each which we flicked through before being joined by another couple who were also making the most of the hospitality deal. We were all asked what drink we would like. The choice was limited to 2 cans of lager each and we both opted for San Miguel.
Shortly after we were asked what we would like for our main course, the choices being a selection of pies. I went for steak while Emma opted for chicken and mushroom. These were both served with skinny fries and mushy peas.
We were both very hungry so wolfed these down before being asked if we would like our dessert now or at half time. With it still being well before kick off we decided to have this straight away.
Very soon after we were served our dessert which was a biscoff cheescake served with cream. This was very tasty, and even if not the biggest slice, it was enough to fill us up ahead of the game.
Speaking of the game, we then headed outside and found a seat in the main stand. As this is a hospitality review you will have to wait for a return visit for us to rate the ground as usual, but the stand is very good for the level and spans the full length of the pitch. This provides a great view of the action as well as the reason this ground was so highly recommended, the backdrop of the church and old mill opposite.
The game itself was a pretty low key affair with the hosts taking an early lead in the first 5 minutes. From then there were very few clear cut chances and in the end that was enough to secure the 3 points and continue Belper’s unbeaten start to the season.
So now onto the important question when it comes to hospitality…..was it worth it?
Well, we paid £45 for the ticket which is £34 more than a standard ticket. This got us a complimentary programme, 2 inclusive drinks and the 2 course meal.
Being honest, although we enjoyed our day and first visit to the ground we couldn’t help but feel slightly short changed at the experience. First of all, it seemed a little bit strange to only allow the inclusive drinks to be cans when we were sat in a bar full of people drinking a great selection of pints from the bar. We had purposely skipped a number of great looking pubs in the town to get to the ground early for the ‘inclusive drinks’ so to only be allowed cans of beer was quite disappointing.
When it comes to the food, this was tasty and well presented, but again, the only option being pie and chips which was available for everyone attending to buy from the food kiosk for £6 didn’t really make us feel like we were being treated extra special. There was a fantastic looking Greek street food stall in the fan zone that was selling great smelling food which we will definitely be trying next time as this is something we have never seen at a ground before.
Now I don’t want to sound totally negative as we did have an enjoyable day, and everyone that served us throughout the day was very friendly and attentive. We understand that the majority of people at a club at this level will be volunteers and this is in no way meant to be us slagging off the club itself.
We just feel we have to be honest when reviewing this and unfortunately we didn’t get value for money seeing as we had spent £90 for the privilege of hospitality. In the end we feel we would have had the same, if not a better experience spending much less on a normal ticket and our own choice of food.
As for the ground itself, we can see why people rave about it and it isn’t just because of the view behind the goal. There are covered stands on all sides which is rare at this level and the whole place looks very smart. I’m sure it wont be long before we return for a normal review of the ground itself, this time with a normal matchday ticket!
If you enjoyed this and would like yo see our previous hospitality experience at Crewe, click here: Hospitality at Crewe Alexandra
Emma’s Ground Guide 