English National League club Barnet has announced plans to build a new stadium in its home borough after spending the past 11 years in Harrow.
The club has played at The Hive Stadium since 2013, having previously played at Underhill in Barnet for over 100 years. Club chairman Anthony Kleanthous released a statement yesterday (Monday) detailing the club’s plans to end its 10-year “exile” in Harrow and return to Barnet.
Barnet initially signed a three-year deal to play at The Hive before the agreement was extended indefinitely by Harrow Council. Kleanthous said it has always been his intention to return the club to the home from where it took its identity.
The new stadium would be located in South Underhill, near the club’s former home, and have a capacity of between 6,000 and 8,000. The wider complex would also feature two multi-use game areas, a circulation and recreational zone for pupils, a formal pitch for training and playing purposes, and a school drop-off zone for pupils.
“During the long months of COVID, I busied myself with trying to find a way to bring the club back home and met with Barnet Council to ask for their support in locating a suitable site on which I could build a new stadium,” said Kleanthous. “I undertook to fund the full cost of construction so that we could progress without any funding delays.
“After months of searching, it became clear that the best site was the one we originally identified at South Underhill and so we asked our architect to revisit these proposals. This new scheme is a redesigned slimmed down version of our original planning application at the South Underhill site and accounts for the existing layouts and usages in place with the new school and their needs at the forefront of the project.”
Barnet has instructed WSP Planning Consultancy to commence the pre-application process. WSP’s Sean McGrath will be heading up the project and engaging directly with Barnet Council and its planning officers in the pre-planning process in order to finalise an application.
An update on the planning application will be provided by the club at the end of the month.
Barnet is currently third in the National League. The club has played in the fifth tier since being relegated from League Two in 2018.
