Kenilworth Road - Luton, England

Luton Town Website

Background and History
Kenilworth Road stadium in Luton, England was opened in 1905. This quirky stadium has a capacity of 10,226 making it one of the smallest in the south of England in terms of professional football stadiums.

Luton Town FC have called Kenilworth Road home since it opened in 1905 which makes the facilities in spirit over 100 years old. The club nearly moved to a new 20,000 seater stadium in 1995 but plans were rejected in 1998 when they were deemed unfeasible due to the inadequate capacity of the M1 motorway.

The Daily Mail published an article in 2013 which named Kenilworth Road in a list of the world's worst football stadiums. The main reason for this being that it is in major need of refurbishment.

See video below with Nick Owen who gives you a tour of the famous Kenilworth Road stadium.

Unique Factor
What makes Kenilworth Road unique is the Oak Road Stand. After going down a rather small alleyway at the side of the stadium (or down the cordoned off Oak Road), the impression is of queuing to go into someone's house and then through their back garden and into the stand! Just over 1,500 supporters can be accommodated in this stand, however as this stand is now a shared stand with both home and away fans, visiting supporters are allocated around half this number of tickets. This stand was for home fans only until the early 90's when they reverted to the arrangements above.

Located within the Oak Road Stand between the away turnstiles and the entrance to the ground is the Luton Bobbler's Bar which adds to the features of this unique stadium. Th  bar which costs just 50p for entrance is one of the most popular gathering spots for fans pre-match due to it's obvious unbeatable location.

 Unique Rating - 7/10 
I have given Kenilworth Road a unique rating of 7/10. In complete contrast with my last post on the Allianz Arena this stadium lacks many modern features but more than makes up with it with its quirkyness and character. The entrance through a group of terraced housing epitomises the history and character at the ground. Please look out for my next blog post which will look at another old stadium but this time in South America!

Thanks