View source for Filbert Street

{{Short description|Football ground of Leicester City (1891 to 2002)}}
{{for|the California street|Filbert Street (San Francisco)}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox venue
| stadium_name     = Filbert Street
| image            = [[File:Double Decker Stand at Filbert Street.jpg|250px]]
| caption          = The south end of Filbert Street, known as the 'Double Decker'.
| fullname         = Filbert Street Stadium
| location         = Filbert Street, [[Leicester]]
| coordinates      = {{coord|52|37|25|N|1|8|26|W|type:landmark|display=it}}
| nickname         = City Business Stadium (official)
| owner            = [[Leicester City F.C.]]
| opened           = 1891
| closed           = 2002
| demolished       = 2003
| seating_capacity = 22,000 (at closure)<br />47,298 (record)
| tenants          = [[Leicester City FC]] (1891–2002)
| dimensions       = 110 x 76&nbsp;yards
|}}
{{OSM Location map
| lat =52.626
| lon =-1.134
| float=right
| zoom =13
| width = 255       <!-- width and height of the frame. numeric input – do not add px -->
| height = 320
| minimap = file
| mini-file=Leicestershire UK district map (blank).svg
| mini-width=100
| mini-height=75
| minipog-x=52
| minipog-y=39
| scalemark =106

| mark-lat = 52.62361        <!-- lat and lon location for the marker -->
| mark-lon =-1.14056
| label = Filbert Street
|label-pos=top
| mark-title = Filbert Street
| mark-image = Double Decker Stand at Filbert Street.jpg  <!-- | used within the full screen linked page -->
| mark-description = Home ground of Leicester City FC from 1891 until the move to a new stadium in 2002.

| mark-lat1 = 52.62048        <!-- lat and lon location for the marker -->
| mark-lon1 =-1.142197
| label1 = King Power Stadium
|label-pos1=bottom
| mark-title1 = King Power Stadium
| mark-image1 = Walkers Stadium - geograph.org.uk - 1296732.jpg  <!-- | used within the full screen linked page -->
| mark-description1 = Home ground of Leicester City FC, completed in 2002 when it was known as the Walkers Stadium.
}}
'''Filbert Street''' was a football stadium in [[Leicester]], England, which served as the home of [[Leicester City F.C.]] from 1891 until 2002. Although officially titled the '''City Business Stadium''' in the early 1990s, it remained known almost exclusively by its address, like many English football stadiums.

== History ==
=== Early years ===
[[Leicester City F.C.|Leicester City]] was formed in 1884.<ref name="Inglis207">{{harvnb|Inglis|1996|p=207}}</ref> The club was then named ''Leicester Fosse'', as its founders mostly lived in the west end of the city, through which the [[Fosse Way]] ran.<ref name="Inglis207" /> In 1884–85 it played at a ground known as the Racecourse, before sharing [[Victoria Park, Leicester|Victoria Park]] with the [[Leicester Tigers]] rugby club for two years.<ref name="Inglis207" /> Leicester Fosse played at the Belgrave Road Cycle Track for a year, but returned to Victoria Park after the rugby club offered a higher rent to the owners of the Cycle Track.<ref name="Inglis207" />

Leicester Fosse became a professional club in 1889 and laid out its own ground at Mill Lane, just north of Filbert Street.<ref name="Inglis207" /> The club was soon forced to move, however, as the local Corporation requested the land for development.<ref name="Inglis207" /> The site of what was to become Filbert Street was prepared during the summer of 1891, while Leicester Fosse temporarily played at the [[Aylestone Road]] Cricket Ground.<ref name="Inglis207" /> Local legend suggests that the new ground was identified by a Miss Westland, the niece of one of the club's founders, Joseph Johnson.<ref name="Inglis207" /> The stadium was initially known as Walnut Street, being the closest road to the ground at the time.<ref name="Inglis207" /> The first game Leicester Fosse played there was a game against [[Nottingham Forest F.C.|Nottingham Forest]]'s reserve team on 7 November 1891.<ref name="Inglis207" />

The stadium initially consisted of simple earth banks and a small main stand on the west side, until 1921, when a new and much larger main stand was built. The Main Stand opened 24 November 1921.<ref name="Inglis207" /> In 1927, a new stand was built at the south end (known as the [[Spion Kop (stadia)|Spion Kop]]), and became known as the "Double Decker" although was officially the South Stand. The roof which had previously covered the Kop was rebuilt at the north, or Filbert Street end of the ground. It was in this form that Filbert Street saw its record attendance of 47,298 for the Fifth Round [[FA Cup]] tie, a 3–0 defeat against [[Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur]] on 18 February 1928.<ref name="Inglis208" /> This game also saw many more spectators watch the match from the roof of the Filbert Street end. Despite the defeat, the stadium saw more FA Cup action that season when it was selected as the neutral venue for the semi-final between [[Blackburn Rovers]] and [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]] on 24 March 1928 where eventual winners Blackburn Rovers won 1–0.<ref name=ips>{{cite work|title=Leicester City versus Ipswich Town programme|date=12 August 2006|pages=28-29}}</ref>
 
The first phase of ground development concluded with the covering of the East or Popular side in 1939.

=== Second World War and after ===
The middle section of the Main Stand suffered bomb damage in 1940, and was later further damaged by a serious fire. By 1949, the stand had been rebuilt, with much of the labour being supplied by German POWs at a nearby camp. The ground's maximum capacity was now around 42,000. Floodlights were installed and first used for a match against the German champions [[Borussia Dortmund]] on 23 October 1957.<ref name="Inglis208">{{harvnb|Inglis|1996|p=208}}</ref>

After just surviving a council vote to terminate their lease in the late 1940s, City purchased the freehold of the ground in 1962, for the sum of £30,500. In 1971, the first moves towards an all-seater stadium were taken, as the North and East sides were converted to seating. Four years later, 20 basic [[luxury box|executive boxes]] were added to the North Stand. A pioneering polythene cover was introduced to protect the pitch in 1971. The Air Dome covered an area of 90,000 square feet, weighed 24 cwt and took 15 men two hours to lay out and inflate using four electric fans.<ref name="Butler">{{cite book|last=Butler|first=Bryon|title=100 Seasons of League Football|date=1998|publisher=Queen Anne Press|location=England|isbn=1-85291-595-1|pages=392}}</ref> The Air Dome was removed in 1982.<ref name="Butler" />

=== All-seater stadium ===
At the beginning of the 1990s, after considering moving to a new stadium, and a total redevelopment of Filbert Street which would have seen the pitch rotated by 90 degrees, onto the car park behind the Main Stand, City opted to build a new Main Stand, demolishing the existing structure in the summer of 1993. It was anticipated that further modernisation work would take place in the future.

Completed in December 1993, the Carling Stand held 9,500 seated spectators and expanded corporate facilities, costing £6 million. In 1994, the final terraced area – the Kop – was converted to seating giving Filbert Street an all-seated capacity of 21,500, and bringing it into compliance with the [[Taylor Report]] which required all [[Premier League]] and [[Football League First Division|Division One]] teams to have all-seater capacity.
===Neutral venue===
Filbert Street hosted a [[Football League test matches|Football League test match]] on 27 April 1895 which saw [[Derby County F.C.|Derby County]] beat [[Notts County F.C.|Notts County]] 2–1 to remain in the [[Football League First Division|First Division]], with Notts County remaining in the [[Football League Second Division|Second Division]].<ref name=ips/>

It also held the finals of the [[FA Amateur Cup]] in 1896 and 1900. On 28 March 1896, [[Bishop Auckland F.C.|Bishop Auckland]] beat [[Portsmouth F.C.|Royal Artillery Portsmouth]] 1–0 and on 31 March 1900, Bishop Auckland were again the winners, beating [[Lowestoft Town F.C.|Lowestoft Town]] 5–1.<ref name=ips/>

Filbert Street was later used as a neutral venue for two FA Cup semi-finals. The first took place in 1928 between Blackburn Rovers and Arsenal and in 1962 it hosted a semi-final replay between [[Burnley F.C.|Burnley]] and [[Fulham F.C.|Fulham]], following a draw at [[Villa Park]]. In the replay, Burnley progressed to the final with a 2–1 win.<ref name=ips/>

It was the neutral venue of the semi-final of the [[1970–71 FA Trophy]] between [[Hillingdon Borough F.C.]] and [[Hereford United]], which Hillingdon won 2–0.<ref name=ips/>

It also held multiple FA Cup second replays including two long running ties. In March 1975, it hosted the second replay of League champions [[Leeds United A.F.C.|Leeds United]] against [[Ipswich Town F.C.|Ipswich Town]] in the fifth round of the cup following two previous draws but the second replay also ended in a draw (0–0). Two days later, the teams met again at Filbert Street with Ipswich Town finally winning 3–2 to progress to the semi-final against eventual winners [[West Ham United F.C.|West Ham United]]. In 1979, Filbert Street again hosted a marathon tie, this time between Arsenal and [[Sheffield Wednesday]] in the third round. Again, following two draws between the teams, Filbert Street hosted the second replay on 15 January 1979 but this ended in a 2–2 draw. Two days later the teams met again at Filbert Street but again, the teams could not be separated, drawing 3–3. Finally, in the fifth game between the teams held the following week, Arsenal progressed to the next round, winning 2–0. It was the last time the stadium had an attendance over 30,000 (30,275).<ref name=ips/> Despite the struggle to progress from the third round, Arsenal went on to win the competition.

Filbert Street also held one [[Football League Cup]] second replay between [[Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.|Brighton & Hove Albion]]	and [[Oldham Athletic A.F.C.|Oldham Athletic]] on 20 September 1977, which Oldham won 2–1 after extra time.<ref name=ips/>

It hosted a third round League Cup tie between [[Luton Town F.C.|Luton Town]]	and	[[Coventry City F.C.|Coventry City]] on 27 October 1987 as Luton were banned from using their [[Artificial turf|plastic pitch]] in the competition. Luton won 3–1.<ref name=ips/>

England under-23s played West Germany's under-23s at the stadium on 14 October 1970, which England won 3–1. [[England national under-21 football team|England's under-21 team]] played their final qualifying game of the [[1980 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship|1980 UEFA U-21 Football Championship]] and beat [[Bulgaria national under-21 football team|Bulgaria]] to progress to the finals. It was also used for England under-21s games against [[Portugal national under-21 football team|Portugal]] in 1994 and [[Mexico national under-21 football team|Mexico]] in 2001.<ref name=ips/> 

Filbert Street hosted one full international game between [[India national football team|India]] and [[Bangladesh national football team|Bangladesh]] on 29 July 2000, with India winning 1–0.<ref name=ips/>

=== Move and demolition ===
{{See also|King Power Stadium}}
There had been plans in 1977 to move to a new stadium to be built in [[Beaumont Leys]].<ref name="Inglis208"/> The residents of [[Anstey, Leicestershire|Anstey]] and other nearby districts voiced their concerns of a new stadium being built nearby and the plan was stopped and £1 million was spent improving Filbert Street and adding more seats instead.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[Leicester Mercury]]|date=3 September 1983|page=13|title=What City missed...|last=Culley|first=Jon}}</ref>

Following the success of the club under [[Martin O'Neill]] during the later part of the 1990s, an expanded stadium was required for higher attendances and to provide better facilities. Expansion of Filbert Street would have been very difficult, as the North and East Stands backed onto housing which would have been expensive to place under a [[compulsory purchase order]]. Although expansion was considered, by 1998 the decision had been taken to move to a completely new stadium. After a failed attempt to build a 40,000 all-seater stadium at Bede Island South (on the other bank of the nearby [[River Soar]]),<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2000/jan/06/newsstory.sport |title=Leicester bin stadium blueprint |work=The Guardian |date=6 January 2000 |access-date=10 October 2012}}</ref> the club purchased Freeman's Wharf, a former power station site 200&nbsp;yards south of Filbert Street.<ref name="demolition" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/leicester-make-plans-to-move-624633.html |title=Leicester make plans to move |first=David |last=Prior |work=The Independent|location=London |date=3 November 2000 |access-date=10 October 2012}}</ref> Work began on a 32,500 seater stadium during 2001 and it was opened in July 2002.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/leicester_city/2146706.stm |title=Lineker unveils new Foxes home |date=23 July 2002 |access-date=10 October 2012 |publisher=BBC Sport}}</ref>

Filbert Street was sold to a development company for £3.75 million in March 2002, two months before the last game was played there.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/leicester_city/1857550.stm |title=Foxes sell Filbert Street |date=6 March 2002 |access-date=10 October 2012 |publisher=BBC Sport}}</ref> The last game to be played at Filbert Street was the last game of the [[2001–02 in English football|2001–02]] season, a 2–1 victory against [[Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur]] – one of just five league games that Leicester won during that season, culminating in relegation to Division One.<ref name="piper">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/leicester-city/3027622/Lively-Piper-calls-tune-for-Leicester.html |first=Gary |last=Slater |title=Lively Piper calls tune for Leicester |date=12 May 2002 |access-date=10 October 2012 |work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London }}</ref> [[Matt Piper]] scored the last goal scored at the ground,<ref name="piper" /> bringing to an end 111 years of football there.<ref name="demolition">{{cite web |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2861823.stm |title=Filbert Street ground demolished |publisher=BBC News |date=18 March 2003 |access-date=10 October 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/1978508.stm |title=Leicester's Filbert farewell |publisher=BBC Sport |date=11 May 2002 |access-date=10 October 2012}}</ref> In the autumn of 2002, [[Rotherham United F.C.|Rotherham United]] expressed interest in purchasing the Carling Stand and moving it to their [[Millmoor]] stadium, but these plans were soon abandoned and the decade-old stand would soon be demolished along with the rest of Filbert Street.<ref>{{cite news |work=Leicester Mercury |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-26906182_ITM |title=Foxes' stand sale is off |date=14 November 2002 |access-date=10 October 2012}}</ref>

Demolition of Filbert Street was begun in March 2003.<ref name="demolition" /> Part of the site is now home to the 'Filbert Village' development, built as accommodation for students for the nearby [[De Montfort University]] and [[University of Leicester]].<ref name="derelict">{{cite web |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/leicestershire/8376733.stm |title=Fans want Filbert Street museum |publisher=BBC News |date=24 November 2009 |access-date=14 October 2012}}</ref><ref name="car park" /> The road running through the development is called Lineker Road after one of Leicester City's most famous players, [[Gary Lineker]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/content/articles/2005/02/22/gary_lineker_road_opens_feature.shtml |title=Lineker honoured |publisher=BBC Leicester |date=23 February 2005 |access-date=10 October 2012}}</ref> The rest of the site was meant to be developed for housing, but this work was cancelled due to the [[2008 financial crisis]].<ref name="derelict" /><ref name="car park" /> It was then leased to a [[parking lot|car parking]] company, but this arrangement was terminated by Leicester City Council in March 2012.<ref name="car park">{{cite news |url=http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/Safety-fears-force-closure-Filbert-Street-car/story-15519360-detail/story.html |work=Leicester Mercury  |date=15 March 2012 |access-date=14 October 2012 |title=Safety fears force closure of Filbert Street car park |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425185928/http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/Safety-fears-force-closure-Filbert-Street-car/story-15519360-detail/story.html |archive-date=25 April 2012}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

;Sources
*{{cite book| first = Simon  | last = Inglis  | title = Football Grounds of Britain  | year = 1996  | publisher = Collins Willow  | isbn = 0-00-218426-5  }}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070321085231/http://www.lcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/FilbertStreet/0,,10274,00.html Filbert Street history]
* [http://www.worldstadia.com/ws/show-page.php?menuCommand=stadium&menuData=2 Filbert Street Gallery and Information] at Worldstadia
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030403054112/http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/sport/clubs/lcfc/2003/03/05/filbert_street_demolition.shtml Demolition of Filbert Street]
*[http://www.footballgroundguide.com/old-grounds-and-stands/filbert_street_leicester.htm Football Grounds Guide Article]

{{Leicester City F.C.}}
{{Premier League venues}}

[[Category:Defunct football venues in England]]
[[Category:Leicester City F.C.]]
[[Category:Sports venues in Leicester]]
[[Category:Premier League venues]]
[[Category:Sports venues completed in 1891]]
[[Category:1891 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Sports venues demolished in 2003]]
[[Category:English Football League venues]]
[[Category:Demolished sports venues in the United Kingdom]]