Â£2.5m home would be the Bees knees

14 April 2012

Brentford today announced ambitious plans for a £2.5million redevelopment of Griffin Park.

Raising the capacity from 11,000 to 14,000, the club want to enlarge the Brook Road stand, put a roof on the Ealing Road terrace and build executive lounges in the New Road stand.

The idea is to modernise the 100-yearold ground in a bid to attract new fans and create more opportunites to use the stadium on non-matchdays.

The scheme will largely be paid for by a £1.8m grant from the Governmentbacked Football Stadia Improvement Fund, but still requires planning permission.

With support from Hounslow Council far from certain, the club are urging supporters to lobby local politicians ahead of a crucial planning meeting in Brentford tomorrow night.

Director John McGlashan said: "It is such an important development not just for the football club but for the whole area. Griffin Park is not Wembley Stadium but it is a huge piece of land that effectively sits around doing nothing during the week when it could be used for the benefit of the community."

Brentford plan to turn the New Road executive lounges into study centres for local schoolchildren and university students on weekdays.

They hope this planned use will help them secure extra funding through education grants and sponsorship. It is anticipated that none of the cash for the improvements will come from the playing budget.

Brentford still want to leave Griffin Park for a purpose-built new stadium at Kew Bridge. However, the project has been delayed by issues surrounding the ownership of their proposed site.

McGlashan believes it will take a minimum of fours years for any new ground to be completed and is determined to ensure the club does not stagnate.

He added: "The new stadium is going to take a few years. But when we do move, we want to fill it. This will boost the club's profile and hopefully attract new fans. It should also ensure that Griffin Park is being used on the days it is currently doing nothing else."

Any community projects that become based at Brentford as a result of the redevelopment will then move with the club if the new ground goes ahead.

The scheme is the brainchild of director Doug White who has been working on ideas for improving Griffin Park for the past two years. White said: "It reintroduces the stadium as the heartbeat of the area as it was 100 years ago and the new community and commercial revenues will be the lifeblood of the club. With this we can survive, thrive and compete, while we continue with our target of relocation. 'New Griffin Park' will, in the mean time, provide a valuable insurance policy, if the new stadium cannot be delivered within the necessary timescales."

As part of separate planning applications, Brentford also want to build new offices behind the Ealing Road terrace and take over the running of the nearby Princess Royal pub.

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