Griffin Park

Griffin Park was a football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground is in a predominantly residential area and was known for being the only English league football ground to have a pub on each corner. The ground's name referred to the griffin featured in the logo of Fuller's Brewery, which at one point owned the orchard on which the stadium was built.

History

Planning, construction and opening

Between Brentford's formation in 1889 and 1904, the club played at five grounds around Ealing – Clifden Road, Benns Field, Shotters Field, Cross Road and Boston Park Cricket Ground. In 1903, Fulham chairman Henry Norris (a prominent estate agent), Brentford manager Dick Molyneux and club president Edwin Underwood negotiated a 21-year lease at a peppercorn rent on an orchard (owned by local brewers Fuller, Smith and Turner) along the Ealing Road, with the option to buy the freehold at a later date for £5,000. After a gypsy camp was removed from the site and work began on building the ground in January 1904, under the guidance of architects Parr & Kates. The orchard was cut down by local volunteers, who were allowed to keep the wood.

The ground was initially built with a 20,000 capacity in mind, with a provision for an increase to 30,000–40,000. An 800-capacity stand from Boston Park was rebuilt along the Braemar Road side of the ground, with an extension taking the stand's capacity to 1,500. Beneath and behind the stand were three dressing rooms (one for each team and one for officials), a number of offices and a recreation room. The ground was named 'Griffin Park' after a nearby pub, The Griffin, which was owned by the Griffin Brewery and was used for accommodation. After a number of trial matches, Griffin Park was opened on 1 September 1904. Season tickets for the 1904–05 season (priced between 10 shillings and one guinea) sold out.

The first matches

The first competitive match played at Griffin Park was a Western League fixture versus Plymouth Argyle on 1 September 1904. The Braemar Road grandstand had been completed by the time of the fixture, but as the dressing rooms were not ready and the players were forced to change at the public baths in Clifden Road. The borough surveyor declared the grandstand unsafe and banned its use until improvements had been made. Argyle scored the first competitive goal at the ground through Fred Buck, but four minutes from the final whistle, Tommy Shanks converted a James Swarbrick cross to secure a 1–1 draw. The attendance was estimated at between 4,000 and 5,000.

The first competitive fixture to be played at the ground was a Southern League First Division match on 3 September 1904, which yielded a 0–0 draw between Brentford and West Ham United. The Bees had to wait until 22 October 1904 for their first victory at the ground, a 2–0 win over Millwall. The first Football League match to be played at the ground was on 30 August 1920, with Reginald Boyne scoring the only goal of a Third Division fixture versus Millwall.

Development

The money generated from Brentford's run to the fifth round of the FA Cup during the 1926–27 season (£5,000, equivalent to £ in ) allowed a new grandstand to be constructed to replace the 'cow shed' on the Braemar Road side of the ground.

Unlike the old grandstand, the new stand ran the length of the pitch. After the season, it was announced that Griffin Park would be completely redeveloped over the following decade. Concrete terracing was installed at the Ealing Road end of the ground in 1930. During the 1933 off-season, a new stand was constructed at the Brook Road end of the ground and the New Road terrace was extended the following year to allow a further 5,000 supporters to be accommodated. Prior to Brentford's debut First Division season in 1935–36, the New Road terrace was extended and a roof was added, which took the stand's capacity to 20,000.

Little development occurred at Griffin Park between the mid-1930s and the mid-1980s and the ground's 38,000 capacity was the largest in its history. The frontage of the Braemar Road stand was rebuilt in 1963, adding club offices and a club room. Flats were built in a spare, matchday parking area behind the Ealing Road terrace in 1985 and the following year the Brook Road ' kop' was torn down and replaced by a two-tiered stand, colloquially known as the 'Wendy House'. On the New Road side of the ground, the 1930s extension to the terrace was removed and a sheet metal wall was added to the back of the stand.

In 2006, the pitch was moved a few metres to the west in order to accommodate box goal nets and the following year, a roof was added to the Ealing Road terrace. Numerous improvements were made after Brentford's promotion to the Championship in 2014, including resurfacing of access areas, extra CCTV, new signage, new heated seats in the dugouts and AstroTurf installed in the pitch-side run-off areas. With the club placed in the Championship playoff places in January 2015, additional work was carried out on the New Road stand ahead of a deadline for submission of a report to the Premier League, which outlined development plans ahead of a potential promotion. LED advertising boards were installed at the ground for the first time during the 2017–18 season and goal-line technology was installed during the 2017 off-season.

Crowd disturbance

The only occasion on which Griffin Park was closed due to crowd trouble was following a Third Division South match versus Brighton & Hove Albion on 12 September 1925. Ill-feeling on the pitch sparked trouble on the terraces and following the referee's report, the FA closed the ground for 14 days. The following home match against Crystal Palace was moved to Selhurst Park, where Brentford suffered a 2–0 defeat and dropped to bottom place in the Football League.

Wartime bombing

Griffin Park survived the bombing raids of the First World War unscathed, though bombs fell on the nearby High Street while the team was playing away at Crystal Palace on 19 January 1918. During the Second World War, Griffin Park was hit by two high-explosive bombs in 1940 and 1941 respectively. Six matches were abandoned or postponed during the Blitz.

The "Great Fire of Brentford"

At 11:30 pm on 1 February 1983, a fire broke out in the Braemar Road Stand, possibly due to an electrical fault in the boiler room under the stand. The fire quickly spread through the timber used in the construction of the stand. Groundsman Alec Banks, who lived under the stand, was rescued by then-Brentford player Stan Bowles and his wife Jane. Sixty people were evacuated from homes nearby and an estimated £150,000 worth of damage was caused, including 800 seats, the away dressing room, the gymnasium, the kit store and the laundry. It was after the reconstruction that the players' tunnel was moved to the western corner of the Braemar Road Stand, with the players having previously emerged from a tunnel at the halfway line.

"Fortress Griffin Park"

Brentford set an English football record when the club won all 21 home games during the 1929–30 Third Division South season. Despite the record (which still stands as of ), the Bees finished as runners-up to Plymouth Argyle and failed to win promotion to Second Division. Brentford finished the 2014 calendar year with the best home record in the Football League, winning 17 of 23 games (two more than the next-best tally) and accruing a 78% winning record.

Ticketing

An electronic ticketing system was installed on all turnstiles at Griffin Park during the 2014 off-season. Previously, supporters were able to pay on the turnstiles on match days for non-all-ticket matches.

Attempts to move to a new stadium

In August 1973, the ''Middlesex Chronicle'' reported that Brentford had submitted a bid to Hounslow Council to build a new ground and leisure complex on the site of Brentford Market. Brentford's hopes of moving to a new 20,000-capacity stadium were boosted in 2007 after the club was given an option to buy a site at Lionel Road, less than a mile away from Griffin Park. The project was halted in 2010 due to the economic downturn and partners Barratt Homes pulled out of the deal in January 2011. In June 2012, the club bought the Lionel Road site from Barratt Homes. Outline planning approval was given by the London Borough of Hounslow on 5 December 2013 and the Mayor of London's office gave their approval in February 2014. Eric Pickles (then-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government) gave final approval for the stadium on 14 March 2014 and a development agreement was signed with Willmott Dixon

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