Kenilworth Road

Kenilworth Road stands in Bury Park, a mile west of Luton town centre. It is the 12,000-seat home of Luton Town Football Club, which has played there since 1905. The stadium hosted the second leg of the 1984 women’s European final and has staged Football League matches on and off since 1920. Floodlights were added in 1953 and the ground became all-seated in 1991. A record crowd of 30,069 watched an FA Cup tie against Blackpool in 1959. The ground has been shaped by key moments in the club’s history. In 1921 the original Main Stand burned down and was rebuilt before the 1922–23 season. Average home attendances rose from 5,868 in 1932–33 to over 21,000 by 1955–56. A £1 million refurbishment in 1985 introduced an artificial pitch, though it was removed six years later. The Oak Road End still shows signs of the 1985 riot and the five-season ban on away supporters that followed. Visitors enter through the unusual Oak Road End entrance. The Main Stand, rebuilt after the 1921 fire, once had a smoking ban on its wooden upper tier. The Bobbers Stand became all-seated in 1973, while the David Preece Stand was added in 1991. The Kenilworth Stand was the last to be converted, completing the all-seater stadium in 2005. The pitch is natural grass today, but the club’s brief experiment with artificial surfaces remains part of its story.