Filbert Street
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Filbert Street was a football stadium in
Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...
, England, which served as the home of Leicester City F.C. from 1891 until 2002. Although officially titled the City Business Stadium in the early 1990s, it remained known almost exclusively by its address, like many English football stadiums.


History


Early years

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...
was formed in 1884. The club was then named ''Leicester Fosse'', as its founders mostly lived in the west end of the city, through which the
Fosse Way The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis (Ilchester), Aquae Sulis ( Bath), Corini ...
ran. In 1884–85 it played at a ground known as the Racecourse, before sharing
Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...
with the
Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...
rugby club for two years. Leicester Fosse played at the Belgrave Road Cycle Track for a year, but returned to Victoria Park after the rugby club offered a higher rent to the owners of the Cycle Track. Leicester Fosse became a professional club in 1889 and laid out its own ground at Mill Lane, just north of Filbert Street. The club was soon forced to move, however, as the local Corporation requested the land for development. The site of what was to become Filbert Street was prepared during the summer of 1891, while Leicester Fosse temporarily played at the
Aylestone Road Aylestone Road, now also known as the Leicester Electricity Sports Cricket Ground, is a cricket ground in Leicester, England, which was the headquarters of Leicestershire County Cricket Club from 1901 to 1939. Although the playing area is much r ...
Cricket Ground. Local legend suggests that the new ground was identified by a Miss Westland, the niece of one of the club's founders, Joseph Johnson. The stadium initially consisted of simple earth banks and a small main stand on the west side, until 1921, when a new and much larger main stand was built. In 1927, a new stand was built at the south end (known as the Spion Kop), and became known as the "Double Decker". The roof which had previously covered the Kop was rebuilt at the north, or Filbert Street end of the ground. It was in this form that Filbert Street saw its record attendance of 47,298 for the Fifth Round
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
tie, against
Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
, on 18 February 1928. This game also saw many more spectators watch the match from the roof of the Filbert Street end. The first phase of ground development concluded with the covering of the East or Popular side in 1939.


Second World War and after

The middle section of the Main Stand suffered bomb damage in 1940, and was later further damaged by a serious fire. By 1949, the stand had been rebuilt, with much of the labour, ironically, being supplied by German POWs at a nearby camp. The ground's maximum capacity was now around 42,000. Floodlights were installed and first used for a match against German club
Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...
in October 1957. After just surviving a council vote to terminate their lease in the late 1940s, City purchased the freehold of the ground in 1962, for the sum of £30,500. In 1971, the first moves towards an all-seater stadium were taken, as the North and East sides were converted to seating. Four years later, 20 basic executive boxes were added to the North Stand. A pioneering polythene cover was introduced to protect the pitch in 1971. The Air Dome covered an area of 90,000 square feet, weighed 24 cwt and took 15 men two hours to lay out and inflate using four electric fans. The Air Dome was removed in 1982.


All-seater stadium

At the beginning of the 1990s, after considering moving to a new stadium, and a total redevelopment of Filbert Street which would have seen the pitch rotated by 90 degrees, onto the car park behind the Main Stand, City opted to build a new Main Stand, demolishing the existing structure in the summer of 1992. It was anticipated that further modernisation work would take place in the future. Completed in December 1993, the Carling Stand held 9,500 seated spectators and expanded corporate facilities, costing £6 million. In 1994, the final terraced area – the Kop – was converted to seating giving Filbert Street an all-seated capacity of 21,500, and bringing it into compliance with the
Taylor Report The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster Inquiry report is the report of an inquiry which was overseen by Lord Justice Taylor, into the causes of the Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989, as a result of which, ...
which required all
Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
and
Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...
teams to have all-seater capacity.


Move and demolition

Following the success of the club under
Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playi ...
during the later part of the 1990s, an expanded stadium was required for higher attendances and to provide better facilities. Expansion of Filbert Street would have been very difficult, as the North and East Stands backed onto housing which would have been expensive to place under a
compulsory purchase order A compulsory purchase order (CPO; , ) is a legal function in the United Kingdom and Ireland that allows certain bodies to obtain land or property without the consent of the owner. It may be enforced if a proposed development is considered one for p ...
. Although expansion was considered, by 1998 the decision had been taken to move to a completely new stadium. After a failed attempt to build a 40,000 all-seater stadium at Bede Island South (on the other bank of the nearby
River Soar The River Soar () is a major tributary of the River Trent in the English East Midlands and is the principal river of Leicestershire. The source of the river is midway between Hinckley and Lutterworth. The river then flows north through Leicest ...
), the club purchased Freeman's Wharf, a former power station site 200 yards south of Filbert Street. Work began on a 32,500 seater stadium during 2001 and it was opened in July 2002. Filbert Street was sold to a development company for £3.75 million in March 2002, two months before the last game was played there. The last game to be played at Filbert Street was the last game of the 2001–02 season, a 2–1 victory against
Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
– one of just five league games that Leicester won during that season, culminating in relegation to Division One. Matt Piper scored the last goal scored at the ground, bringing to an end 111 years of football there. In the autumn of 2002,
Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...
expressed interest in purchasing the Carling Stand and moving it to their
Millmoor The Millmoor Ground, commonly known as Millmoor, is a football stadium in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It was the home ground of Rotherham County F.C. between 1907 and 1925 and then its successor Rotherham United F.C. until 2008. Th ...
stadium, but these plans were soon abandoned and the decade-old stand would soon be demolished along with the rest of Filbert Street. Demolition of Filbert Street was begun in March 2003. Part of the site is now home to the 'Filbert Village' development, built as accommodation for students for the nearby
De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body. The name De Montfort University was tak ...
and
University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_labe ...
. The road running through the development is called Lineker Road after one of Leicester City's most famous players,
Gary Lineker Gary Winston Lineker (; born 30 November 1960) is an English former professional footballer and current sports broadcaster. He is regarded as having been one of the greatest English strikers. His media career began with the BBC, where he has p ...
. The rest of the site was meant to be developed for housing, but this work was cancelled due to the
financial crisis of 2007–2008 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...
. It was then leased to a
car parking Parking is the act of stopping and disengaging a vehicle and leaving it unoccupied. Parking on one or both sides of a road is often permitted, though sometimes with restrictions. Some buildings have parking facilities for use of the buildings' ...
company, but this arrangement was terminated by Leicester City Council in March 2012.


References

;Sources *


External links


Filbert Street history

Filbert Street Gallery and Information
at Worldstadia
Demolition of Filbert Street
{{Premier League venues Defunct football venues in England Leicester City F.C. Sports venues in Leicester Premier League venues Sports venues completed in 1891 1891 establishments in England Sports venues demolished in 2003 English Football League venues Demolished sports venues in the United Kingdom