Sky Bet League 2
Saturday 24th March 2018
Kick Off: 5.15pm
LIVE ON SKY SPORTS
Stadium: Kenilworth Road, 1 Maple Road, Luton, LU4 8AW
Telephone: 01582 411 622
Club Colours: White and Orange
Nickname: The Hatters
Official Club Website: www.lutontown.co.uk
Key Personnel:
Nathan Jones is the current Manager at Luton. His playing career was mostly as a full back notably at Southend United, Yeovil Town and Brighton and Hove Albion. He progressed to first team coach at Brighton before moving to Kenilworth Road in January 2016 replacing John Still.
Brief Directions by Road:
Leave the M1 at its Junction 11 and take the A505 signposted Luton. Option 1. Follow the A505 for approximately 1.5 miles and Kenilworth Road is on your right as you leave the one-way system along Dunstable Road. To park, follow the one-way around, turning left, right and right again all in about 100 yards so that you do a complete U-turn and then take the second left into Ash Road. Continue down to the bottom, turn left at the end and the club is in front of you. Option 2. From the A505 go through one set of traffic lights to the 1st roundabout and turn right into Chaul End Lane. At the next roundabout turn left into Hatters Way. Continue down Hatters Way and you will see the ground floodlights on your left. Please note however that the ground it is not accessible from this road. At the end of Hatters Way turn left and begin your search for street parking.
Car Parking:
Please note that there is a resident’s only parking scheme in operation near to the ground, so you will have totravel a little further away to find street parking. It is available trust me! More on parking can be found HERE.
Directions by Train:
Luton train station is a brisk 20 minutes walk from the stadium. From the station, turn right into Station Road which runs into Mill Street. At the junction, turn left into Telford Way and right into Dunstable Road. Oak Road is the fifth on the left after approx. a third of a mile. These directions are courtesy of LTFC.
Eating and Drinking Locally:
I am told… The Beech Hill Conservative Club on Leagrave Road, which welcomes both home and away supporters is the best bet for a pre match drink. To find the club with the away entrance in front of you turn left and walk down to the bottom of Oak Road. Proceed through the small arcade of shops opposite and you will see the sign for the club between two shops. Directions courtesy of LTFC. There is very little else on offer close to the ground I am afraid.
There are no Social Club facilities for visiting Fans at Kenilworth Road apart from the small visitors bar situated inside the ground. It is fairly basic but does serve food.
Ground Description:
New grounds are springing up everywhere with space galore. However the word cramped has been used at many grounds over the years, Underhill included, but at Kenilworth Road you will really appreciate the word cramped! However, it is glorious for those who love vintage football grounds.
The existing Main Stand dates from the 1920’s and was purchased allegedly from Kempton Park Racecourse Alongside it sits the Family Stand built in 1991 with seats for 700.
The narrow stand opposite was originally erected in 1933 and was given the name of the Bobbers stand; 1/- (One shilling or a Bob) was the price at the turnstile. To those of us under the age of 50 that was 5 pence! It was made all seated in 1977 and the executive boxes which adorn it were developed in 1986.
To the right of the main stand is the home fan stronghold the fully covered Kenilworth Stand which was originally a tall open bank of terracing.
The entrance to the away enclosure – The Oak Road Stand – is without doubt the most unusual in the country. After walking down a dank alleyway one basically queues above back gardens before entering the stand! It can accommodate 1,800 fans on a shallow rake of seating. The leg room is tight and several pillars obstruct the view but the acoustics are superb for the vocal fraternity. Capacity around 11,000 all seated.
Admission Prices:
Tickets for this fixture must be purchased in advance, there are no on the day sales.
Adult – £20
Senior Over 65 and Young Adult Under 22 – £15
Golden Senior Over 75 and Under 19 – £12
Youth Under 17 – £8
Junior Under 10 – £5
These can be booked by phone only by calling 01582 416 976.
Previous Meetings and Memories:
The Bees are yet to win a league game at The Kenil. Our last visit was in October 2017 in the Checkatrade Trophy when we lost on penalties 4-3 after a 1-1 draw. The last league encounter in December 2016 finished 3-1 and the only Bees cheer was a goal from Bira Dembele.
Rivals:
Watford and Watford Reserves. Although a more recent dislike of Stevenage for some reason has arisen – can’t be all bad then can they?
Celebrity Watch:
England Cricketer Monty Panesaar was born here while music is well represented in the form of Rock band Jethro Tull and legendary virtuoso guitarist Martin Hodges.
However there is one Lutonite celebrity who stands head and shoulders above all others in my opinion (apart from possibly Kevin Millett. Bill Baldy, Edwin Stein, Kirk Stephens and Herbie Smith of course) and that is the late great Eric Bartholomew who was a Director at Kenilworth Road. We of course know him better as comedian Eric Morecambe who was born in errr…. Morecambe!
