It's fair to say that the area around Elland Road is a little sparse when it comes to pre-match watering holes these days. Over in Holbeck the Britannia, the Spotted Cow and the Wagon and Horses are long gone. Head down past the White Rose Centre and the Woodman has gone too. Most recently, and most painfully for a lot of us, the Drysalters closed its doors, a pub that had built itself into a proper matchday institution for home and away fans alike. That leaves the Peacock, the Dragon, the Old White Hart and the Whistlestop as pretty much the last pre-match options within easy walking distance of the ground.
It is not that the demand for a pint before kick-off has gone anywhere. If anything, with the West Stand expansion underway and Elland Road's capacity heading past 47,000 and eventually towards 53,000, there are going to be more fans wanting somewhere to go before and after a game. The viability of pubs is not just an issue for Holbeck and Beeston of course, it's a national problem with around 500 closing every year. Twenty-plus home matches a season simply can't carry the overheads of staff, stock and rent through the quiet Tuesday in February or the middle of a close season. Matchday-only trade is feast or famine, and for all too many establishments the famine has won.
So it is hard not to look at the newly submitted plans for a Leeds United Fan Park and think it makes complete sense. The proposal, drawn up by Bowman Riley Architects on behalf of the club, would convert the old Brandon Hire Station warehouse units on the corner of Lowfields Road and Stadium Way, the building directly opposite the East Stand near the Bremner statue, into a two-part fan zone with room for around 2,000 people.
The design splits into what the architects call the Warehouse and the Courtyard. The Warehouse is the existing brick units combined into one larger space and stripped back to shell condition, with a central bar, a big screen for broadcasting matches and other sporting events, and gaming zones with pool, foosball and console football to keep families and kids occupied. The Courtyard takes the car park at the front of the building and covers it with an arched roof under which sit stacked shipping containers fitted out as food and drink vendors. There is a stage for pre-match entertainment, dugout-style seating, and a second large screen.
It's clear this development ties in with the wider Elland Road masterplan. The fan park is described as a piece of infrastructure that supports the stadium's growth rather than a standalone enterprise. A ground pushing towards 53,000 and UEFA Category 4 status, with genuine ambitions of hosting European and international football, needs more than a couple of surviving boozers to absorb the crowds it is trying to attract.
There is an obvious commercial logic in it for the club too. A fan park under Leeds United's own roof keeps matchday spend inside the ecosystem. Food, drink, retail crossover with the club shop next door, sponsorship on those container units, and presumably conference or event hire outside of matchdays all sit with the club rather than a third party landlord who has to make the numbers work on 23 days a year. It will not replace what the Peacock or the Dragon offer. Those pubs have their own history and their own atmosphere, they are part of people's pre-match rituals and long may they keep going. But there is clearly a gap to be filled, and let's face it, the North East corner Fan Zone doesn't cut it.
Along with the fan park development, there are changes to car parking arrangements at Elland Road next season. Leeds United will take over management and operation of the council car parks around the ground, with the whole process digitised in an effort to speed up entry and ease congestion. The bigger change for regulars is that pay-on-the-day parking is being scrapped entirely, with every space now booked in advance through the club's ticketing platform. The Fullerton car park is also out of action for the season while the West Stand works are ongoing, with the club saying it has sourced replacement parking off-site, though further detail on that is still to come.