Sport
Harry Fletcher
May 27, 2023
![Luton Town's away entrance has become an obsession after their Premier League promotion](https://www.indy100.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=33752174&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C406%2C0%2C0)
Tim Keeton/Getty Images
A lot of modern football grounds look like they could have been designed by the same person, often lacking in character and hard to pick apart.
The same definitely cannot be said for Luton Town’s Kenilworth Road.
The ground, which was built in 1905, has always been a point of curiosity for football fans, mainly thanks to its unique entrance.
Rather than a conventional walkway and set of turnstiles, fans attending Luton games find themselves walking through what initially appears to be someone’s house, with a row of terraces on either side.
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Once inside fans have to scale a set of metal stairs that look like they've seen better days where the literal site of resident's back gardens are easily visible from above.
What looks like an otherwise quiet residential street is actually hiding a football stadium holding more than 10,000 people.
This quaint stadium hidden behind terrace housing will now be hosting the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea next season after The Hatters beat Coventry City via penalty shootout in the play-off final on Saturday.
@jordanevans1606 Everyone should experience Kenilworth Road at least once in their life 😅 #luton #lutontown #kenilworthroad #football #footballstadium
The stadium was something of a curiosity prior to their promotion with many TikTok videos and memes being shared about the away entrance, in a mocking but affectionate 'can you believe this is real' manner.
Following their dramatic win on Saturday Twitter was flooded with images of the stadium with even the club themselves getting in ont the action.
\u201cLuton Town have just won the Championship play-off final. \n\nThis is the entrance to our stadium. \n\nIncredible to think this ground will be in the Premier League next season \ud83e\udd2f\u201d— Luton Town FC (@Luton Town FC) 1685214191
While it remains one of the great curiosities in British football, a whole lot of changes to the ground are being planned for next year now that they are in the Premier League.
The owners of Luton Town have released details of planned upgrades, with the Bobbers stand set to be knocked down and the capacity upgraded to 19,500 – and a further 4,000 seats or safe standing section to be added in a second phase of upgrades.
Luton CEO Gary Sweet, said: “We're delighted the infrastructure element is underway allowing us to develop the detail of the stadium's design and, in particular, work hard to capture the core characteristics that makes Kenilworth Road so atmospheric, so intimate and so special to us.
“This season, perhaps more than any other, has demonstrated the incredible relationship we all have with The Kenny and that has been the driving force behind our design work… We know everyone is desperate for the new stadium to open – as are we!
“It's clearly a hugely complicated project but the main aim has always been to maintain the architectural quality and to deliver a stadium that replicates an essential, unique character we are all so familiar with but also fit and ready to grace the Premier League stage.”
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