Griffin Park: (Brentford)

Brentford’s home ground opened in 1904 and has numerous links to pubs in its history. To start with, it took its name from a nearby pub called The Griffin. It was also famous as being the only ground in the Football League with a pub on each of its corners until The Royal Oak closed recently. Fuller’s Brewery, whose logo features a griffin, also once owned the ground on which the stadium was built. The Griffin pub was used as the club’s dressing rooms for a time, too.

The club played at five different grounds between 1889, when it was formed, and 1904 before finally settling at Griffin Park. The stadium has had its fair share of trouble over the years since Brentford moved in. It was hit by two separate bombs during the Second World War and in 1983 a fire tour through The Braemer Road Stand, causing £150,000 worth of damage. Thankfully no one was injured on either occasion.

The 2019/20 season was Brentford’s last at their home of more than 100 years, as it was finally time for a new stadium to be built for them to bring them into line with other more modern stadia. You can read about Brentford’s new ground here

Stats

Griffin Park Stats
Year Opened	1904
Capacity	12300
Average Attendance	10257
Record Attendance	38678 (Brentford v Leicester (1949))
Pitch Size	100 x 67 (6700)
Nickname	The Griffin
Owner	Brentford F.C.
Clubs Hosted	Brentford F.C., London Broncos, Chelsea F.C. Reserves
First Fixture	Brentford v Plymouth Argyle (01/09/1904)
Final Fixture	Brentford v Swansea (29/07/2020)

Griffin Park Photos

Griffin Park Seating Plan and Where to Sit

Griffin Park has four separate stands. The New Road Stand is currently named the Bill Axbey Stand after the clubs oldest supporter and features the dug-outs, The Ealing Road Terrace is a standing section that occasionally houses the away supporters, whilst The Braemer Road Stand houses the dressing rooms and the club’s offices and has two-tiers, with the lower being known as ‘The Paddock’. The Brook Road Stand is known to the locals as ‘The Wendy House’ and has two-tiers, with the top seating and bottom a terraced section.

Getting To Griffin Park

Brentford is in Greater London, so you have the travel options provided by the capital. Here are some of the more typical options you might go for:

Train – Brentford Railway Station and Kew Bridge Station are both within walking distance of the ground. Gunnersbury and South Ealing Underground stations are both a little further afield but close enough to walk within about 30 minutes.

Bus – The E8 runs from Hanwell, the E2 runs from West Ealing, the 65 runs from South of the river and the numbers 237, 267 and H29 run along the Kew Bridge Road. All stop within easy walking distance of Griffin Park.

Car – From outside the M25 get onto it and exit at Junction 15 onto the M4. Leave that at Junction 2 onto the A4 then stay on here until the Chiswick High Road. Take the A315 not Ealing Road then follow the signs. From South London take the Kew Bridge and follow the signs from there.

By Air – London is served by a host of airports with the nearest to West London being Heathrow. Brentford is the closest professional club to the biggest airport in London.

Taxi – Getting a taxi from a central London location such as Euston out to Griffin Park would take about 30 mins but cost in the region of £40.

Parking Near Griffin Park

There is no parking at the ground itself but you might be able to park on surrounding streets if there are no restrictions in place. There are also numerous paid parking areas in Brentford.

• See Available Parking Near Griffin Park

Useful Resources

• Parking - Just Park

Griffin Park Hotels

Brentford is near to the London districts of Ealing, Chiswick and Hounslow, so there are numerous hotels options available to you. Here are some worth your consideration:

Pubs and Bars Near Griffin Park

London doesn’t exactly lack public house options, but Brentford is a ground made famous by its association with boozers so we’d be remiss not to mention some of them:

Facilities

Facilities at Griffin Park are basic. You’ll be able to buy a drink or a pie before and during the match, but don’t be expecting the sort of slick and smart concourses you’d find at a Premier League ground, for example.

Prices

• Programme: £3
• Pie: £3.3
• Cup of tea: £1.6

Hospitality

There is just one hospitality lounge to speak of at Brentford’s home ground. It’s located in The Braemer Road Stand and offers seats right on the halfway line as part of your hospitality package. You’ll also receive a welcome drink when you arrive as well as a tour of the ground before entering the lounge for a three-course meal. You’ll get half-time and full-time refreshments and you’ll also be able to vote for your Man Of The Match.

Private Hire

At the time of writing there are no private hire options available at Griffin Park. You can hire out the nearby Griffin pub, however, should you be after a location with ties to the ground.

Stadium Tours & Museum

At the time of writing Griffin Park does not offer a stadium tour and nor is there a club museum.

Griffin Park History

Brentford came to call Griffin Park home after Fulham’s chairman, Henry Norris, combined forces with Brentford’s manager in 1903, Dick Molyneux, and the club President, Edwin Underwood, to negotiate a 21-year lease on an orchard along the Ealing Road. In 1904 a gypsy camp was moved off the site and construction of what would become the club’s ground for over 100 years began.

During the 1929-1930 season the club set an English record when they went on to win all 21 of their home fixtures for that campaign. Despite this they finished second in the Third Division to Plymouth Argyle and missed out on promotion to the Second Division. The record still stands and the club came close to beating it in the calendar year of 2014 when they won 17 of the 23 games they played at home; the best home record in the Football League.

Future Developments

Brentford will be moving to a new 20,000 seat stadium named the Brentford Community Stadium in the summer of 2020, with 75 family homes being built on the current location of Griffin Park.