Bank Street

Bank Street stood in Clayton, a Manchester suburb, between a railway line and a chemical works. It began as the Bradford and Clayton athletic ground, owned by a local company. Newton Heath Football Club, later Manchester United, moved there in 1893 after being forced out of North Road. The ground had no stands at first, but two were built before the first league match. By the late 1890s the club owned the site and added more covered stands. The ground grew to hold about fifty thousand people by 1904. It hosted a representative match between Football League and Scottish League sides that year. A wealthy brewer, John Henry Davies, saved the club from closure and funded new stands. The stadium’s final game drew only five thousand fans before the move to Old Trafford in 1910. A storm soon after destroyed one of the main stands. Today the site holds the National Cycling Centre’s BMX indoor arena. A red plaque on a house wall marks the former pitch’s location. The area is close to Manchester City’s stadium. Visitors see a modern sports facility where football once filled the terraces. The plaque and the arena stand as quiet reminders of Bank Street’s sporting past.