I reflect on the leafy West London suburb of Brentford and my last visit to lively Griffin Park, former home of Brentford FC. The club has since moved to a new stadium and the Premier League awaits following promotion in 2020-21.
You may come across a pub quiz question that asks which former football ground had a public house on each corner. The answer is Griffin Park, Brentford, and the pubs are The New Inn, The Griffin, The Princess Royal, and the Royal Oak. The Royal Oak closed in 2015 but the rest were full on match day when I visited in Brentford’s penultimate season at the ground.
Griffin Park was The Bees’ home turf from 1904 until 2020. It was a tight-knit old school ground nestled between terraced housing. If you wanted to experience an honest, traditional football ground, Griffin Park was the place. The club now resides at the 17,250-seater Brentford Community Stadium at nearby Kew Bridge.
I’d been to Griffin Park before in the away end but this time I joined the home fans standing in the Ealing Road End for £23, purchased online with the print-at-home option. The opponents were Derby County, who still had a sniff of a Championship play-off place at the time.
All credit to the home fans; there was non-stop singing and some pretty entertaining songs throughout. It’s certainly one of the less generous stands for visiting goalkeepers, and no love lost for West London rivals Queens Park Rangers and Fulham either.
As well as the locals, it was great to see Americans in Brentford shirts and a group of Frenchmen who came along. Bees looked organised, played attractive football and ran out 4-0 winners against a lacklustre Derby side. I overheard the regulars debating whether it was the best they’d played all season. I’d really lucked out with this fixture.
Brentford’s future looks bright and is flourishing under the sensible and committed ownership of lifelong fan Matthew Benham. He is also majority owner at Denmark’s FC Midtjylland, three-times Danish Superliga winners since 2015.
How to get to Griffin Park, Brentford
Griffin Park is a 500m walk from Brentford overland railway station. Trains run regularly from London Waterloo and take around 30 minutes.