Holker Street is a sports stadium in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. As well as being a football ground, it has also been used for motorcycle speedway. It once had some leisure centre facilities, including four squash courts, which have now been demolished. Its owners, and tenants for the majority of its history, are Barrow A.F.C., who have played at the ground since 1909. Despite its current capacity being just over 6,000, some 16,874 crammed the stadium in 1954 when Barrow played Swansea Town in the FA Cup third round.
History
Early years
The site of Holker Street had previously been owned by the Furness Railway, which had used it as a rubbish tip. It was converted into a football pitch by Hindpool Athletic football club, though no stands had been built and the pitch had little grass — indeed, pieces of refuse on the site remained an obstacle for many years after the ground had been developed. Barrow, which had been founded in 1901, and had spent eight seasons playing at a variety of grounds in Barrow, moved there and took a five-year rent from Furness Railway in 1909.
The first structure built at the ground was a wooden all-seater stand in 1912. By 1921, when Barrow were elected into the new Third Division (North) of the Football League, Holker Street had been developed into an "excellent ground" with fully covered terracing surrounding the three remaining sides, changing rooms and turnstiles.
Football League period
Holker Street remained a good-quality ground during the 1930s, with further upgrades following the Second World War, which saw the wooden stand replaced by terracing. The highest attendance at Holker Street was recorded in 1954 when 16,874 fans saw Barrow draw 2–2 with Swansea Town in the third round of the FA Cup. but the next major changes to occur were in 1972. With Barrow relegated from the Football League Third Division into the Fourth Division, the club was struggling financially and the decision was made to create a speedway track around the edge of the football pitch, resurrecting a sport that had briefly been hosted at Holker Street in 1930. That claim led to a police investigation into Vaughan's activities, with the suspicion that he had been involved in money laundering for Warren. Vaughan was later cleared of all charges, but withdrew his financial backing from Barrow during the course of the investigation. That sent Barrow into administration, during which conflicts over the ownership of Holker Street were central. Vaughan had bought Holker Street from Barrow, transferring ownership to his company Northern Improvements. This end is dominated by the CrossBar which houses the club's offices, and which somewhat damages the aesthetics of the ground. Between 1963 and 2017, the ground had large floodlighting structures in its four corners. Three of those were replaced by smaller floodlights; one was kept because it also functions as a mobile phone mast.
The stadium also has basic catering facilities on match days.
The roof of the Main Stand suffered minor damage on 16 October 2017, as a result of Hurricane Ophelia. In 2020, a roof was built on the Holker Street End of the ground after the club had won promotion back to the Football League.
On 19 July 2022, it was announced that Holker Street would be renamed to the SO Legal Stadium following an agreement with SO Legal Ltd. The deal ran until the end of the 2023/24 season.
On May 12 2023, the club announced the renovation of two new temporary stands, made from scaffolding and sheeting, to be erected into the Wilkie Road side of the stadium accommodating both home and away supporters. Some 923 seats were added (371 for home supporters and 552 for away supporters) as well as the instalment of 196 seats into the Steelworks End of the ground.
See also
- Barrow Bombers