File:The Tote End, Eastville Stadium, Bristol 1986 (301079828).jpg

The Tote End at Bristol Rovers former ground, Eastville Stadium, pictured from the North Stand on May 3rd 1986 during the club's final game there, a reserve match against Watford (final score 1-1, Rovers goal scored by David Mehew) in front of no more than a few hundred fans (only the North Stand was open that day). At the time speculation was rife that this game would be the final curtain, although it wasn't until June 1986 that it was confirmed that Rovers had indeed called it quits, even though their lease at Eastville had one more year to run.

Rovers were forced out because they could no longer afford the £50,000 per year rent being charged by their landlords, The Bristol Stadium Company. Quite simply, Eastville was costing Rovers around £2,000 per home game, which with falling gates in the 1980's (this was the era of Heysel and the Bradford fire) resulted in a loss for almost every match.

Sharing Bristol City's Ashton Gate was not an option because the rent there would have been on a par with Eastville. So for the next decade, Rovers played 12 miles away at Twerton Park in Bath (thank you, Bath City) before returning to Bristol in 1996 to play at the Memorial Stadium. The Tote End terrace at Eastville was demolished in August 1987, and the rest of the Stadium was reduced to rubble ten years later after the greyhounds relocated. A beastly Ikea superstore was built on the site in 1998.