Kenilworth Road, also known as the Kenny, is a football stadium in the area of Bury Park, Luton, Bedfordshire, England. It has been the home ground of Luton Town Football Club since 1905. The stadium has also hosted women's and youth international matches, including the second leg of the 1984 European Competition for Women's Football final.
The 12,000 all-seater stadium is situated in the district of Bury Park, one mile (1.6 km) west of the centre of Luton. It is named after the road which runs along one end of it, though its official address is 1 Maple Road. Kenilworth Road hosted football in the Southern League until 1920, then in the Football League until 2009, when Luton were relegated to the Conference Premier. It has hosted Football League matches once more since 2014. With Luton Town's promotion to the Premier League in 2023, the first Premier League game at Kenilworth Road was against West Ham United in September 2023.
Floodlights were fitted in 1953, and the ground became all-seated in 1991. The record attendance of 30,069 was set in 1959, in an FA Cup sixth round replay against Blackpool. The ground is known for the unusual entrance to the Oak Road End, and the five-season ban on away supporters that Luton Town imposed following a riot by visiting fans in 1985.
History
Luton Town moved to Kenilworth Road in 1905, leaving their previous home at Dunstable Road after their landlord sold the site for housing at short notice. The club's directors quickly procured a new site, and the club's first match at the new ground came on 4 September 1905, a 0–0 draw against Plymouth Argyle. Watford player C. Barnes scored the first ever goal at the stadium, in a reserve match. Originally known as Ivy Road,
thumb|left|Kenilworth Road was opened in 1905
The ground has undergone several major changes since its original construction in 1905. The original Main Stand, boasting a press loft and a balcony above the roof, burnt down in 1921, and was replaced by the current stand before the 1922–23 campaign. The new Main Stand was split into two: the upper tier contained wooden seats, so there was a ban on smoking in the stand; the lower tier, which became known as the Enclosure, was terracing. Kenilworth Road's capacity of the time was 25,000, so it was not deemed necessary to improve the ground. However, only three years later, on 25 April 1936, a match against Coventry City attracted 23,142 spectators—at that time a club record. The decision was taken to renovate the stadium, already in disrepair, and work began at the end of the following season. The Kenilworth End terrace was extended, the Oak Road End received a roof and major work was done on the Main Stand. Following these steps, the ground was more in line with those of rival clubs, the capacity standing at 30,000. The Oak Road terrace was extended in 1955, and promotion to the First Division for 1955–56 saw the average attendance climb as high as 21,454.
Renovation of Kenilworth Road was neglected for the next two decades—financial difficulties and the club's ambitions to build a new ground meant that regeneration was unaffordable, and would also prove unnecessary should relocation occur. However, following the rejection of several potential sites for a new ground, the club finally turned their attentions back to the maintenance of Kenilworth Road.
The David Preece Stand was erected in 1991, simply called the New Stand on construction.
Artificial pitch
In 1985, following the lead of Queen Park Rangers' experiment at Loftus Road four years earlier, the grass pitch was dug up and replaced with an artificial playing surface. The surface, called Sporturf Professional, was manufactured by En-Tout-Cas, and cost the club £350,000. The first match on the new pitch resulted in a 1–1 draw with Nottingham Forest. The new surface quickly became unpopular with both players and fans, and was derided as "the plastic pitch". Protests about the quality of the pitch from other teams resulted in a meeting with a number of major clubs in 1989, mediated by a Football League Commission. The Commission concluded that the pitch had suffered excessive wear and tear from too much use, and Luton installed a replacement artificial surface, at a cost of £60,000, during the summer of 1989. The second artificial pitch was itself removed during the summer of 1991, following the banning of such surfaces by The Football League, and the club returned to a natural grass surface.
Away fan ban
On 13 March 1985, Millwall visited Kenilworth Road for an FA Cup sixth round match. After only 14 minutes the match was halted as the visiting fans began to riot. The referee took both teams off for 25 minutes, before bringing them back on to complete the match. Following the final whistle, and a 1–0 victory for Luton, another pitch invasion and subsequent riot by away supporters caused noticeable damage to the ground and the surrounding area. Many of those arrested turned out to be supporters of teams other than Millwall. The club's chairman, David Evans, reacted by imposing a ban on all away supporters from Kenilworth Road from the start of the 1986–87 season as well as introducing a scheme that would require even home supporters to carry membership cards to be admitted to matches. The Football League insisted that Luton relax the ban for League Cup matches, but when Evans refused to allow Cardiff City fans to visit Kenilworth Road for their second round tie, the club were thrown out of the competition. The ban continued for four seasons, with exceptions for cup matches, before Luton Town repealed the ban before the 1990–91 season.
Ownership
The ground was first constructed in 1905, soon before the club moved in. The club rented the ground until 1933, when newly appointed chairman Charles Jeyes organised the purchase of the stadium. The club retained ownership of the ground until February 1989, when the freehold was sold to Luton Borough Council for £3.25 million. The club was granted a seven-year lease at peppercorn rent for its continued use. This arrangement has been extended several times, and is due to end in 2028 when the club moves to their new stadium at Power Court.
Structure and facilities
thumb|Plan of the stadium<br>A–[[David Preece (footballer born 1963)|Preece Stand; B–Boxes]]
The ground is made up of five stands—opposite the eponymous Kenilworth Stand is the Oak Road End, and to the left is the Main Stand, which is flanked to its right by the David Preece Stand. Opposite them is the Bobbers Stand.
The Main Stand covers approximately two-thirds of the length of the pitch, though the attached enclosure is longer, covering the whole distance. The Main Stand, which seats 4,277 fans,
To the right of the Main Stand is the 3,229-seater Originally a home section, the Oak Road End was turned into a stand for away fans only at the start of the 1991–92 season. Early in the 2013–14 season, the Oak Road End was re-opened for home supporters for fixtures where visiting support was predicted to be especially low, with the section for away fans moved to A Block of the Kenilworth Stand for these games. Later that season, it was announced that the stand was available for shared use between both home and away supporters, increasing Kenilworth Road's home capacity by 15%. The Oak Road End has an entrance that is often considered unusual, requiring spectators to go through an entrance built into the row of houses and up stairs to the stand.