Loftus Road. 10:21 - Jan 22 with 42436 views | Esox_Lucius | IF, and it's a big if. the club were forced away from H&F to build a stadium which could provide income 360+ days a years to generate the revenue to make us competitive as a team again would you be for or against it. Yes or No will suffice, there's no need for comments like "knowing QPR they'd fück it up" etc. Just Yes or No. | |
| The grass is always greener. |
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Loftus Road. on 09:43 - Feb 9 with 3570 views | NW10Hoop | I really feel for QPR on this front. I don't think Loftus road is fit for purpose, and arrive to games as late as possible having being in one of the many good pubs in Shepherds Bush. Bolton, or Derby or Brighton or Preston or Boro (and on and on) can just move to another part of their city and still have the same identity. Our identity is fixed to W12, one of the most expensive places on the planet per square foot. I would personally understand if we ended up moving further out, and as long as it's located near a station into central London, has enough pubs and places to eat after the game, and is worth getting into the stadium nice and early with adequate facilities - would be quite excited. I'd more likely be able to rope my kids into it in a more modern stadium | | | |
Loftus Road. on 14:13 - Feb 9 with 3434 views | ActonExile |
Loftus Road. on 09:43 - Feb 9 by NW10Hoop | I really feel for QPR on this front. I don't think Loftus road is fit for purpose, and arrive to games as late as possible having being in one of the many good pubs in Shepherds Bush. Bolton, or Derby or Brighton or Preston or Boro (and on and on) can just move to another part of their city and still have the same identity. Our identity is fixed to W12, one of the most expensive places on the planet per square foot. I would personally understand if we ended up moving further out, and as long as it's located near a station into central London, has enough pubs and places to eat after the game, and is worth getting into the stadium nice and early with adequate facilities - would be quite excited. I'd more likely be able to rope my kids into it in a more modern stadium |
According to Les (in Hoos we trust, get it ;) ) Sorry, anyway Les said in a round about way that the clubs owners want to spend money but can't spend it on players, so why not pay off the school (they want to move anyway) then purchase a section of the back gardens or the whole of the properties on Loftus and Ellerslie Roads. There are approximately 40 houses at £0.5m per half a garden is £20m give the school £10m to sod off and £1m per house on Imre Close, a total of £45m. Then build a new ground holding 25-27k, we may even be able to build some flats on spare pieces and claw a bit of dough back. All of this would be a damn site better than a bit of wasteland in Park Royal or Heathrow. | |
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Loftus Road. on 17:53 - Feb 9 with 3289 views | Juzzie |
Loftus Road. on 14:13 - Feb 9 by ActonExile | According to Les (in Hoos we trust, get it ;) ) Sorry, anyway Les said in a round about way that the clubs owners want to spend money but can't spend it on players, so why not pay off the school (they want to move anyway) then purchase a section of the back gardens or the whole of the properties on Loftus and Ellerslie Roads. There are approximately 40 houses at £0.5m per half a garden is £20m give the school £10m to sod off and £1m per house on Imre Close, a total of £45m. Then build a new ground holding 25-27k, we may even be able to build some flats on spare pieces and claw a bit of dough back. All of this would be a damn site better than a bit of wasteland in Park Royal or Heathrow. |
oh my god | | | |
Loftus Road. on 18:45 - Feb 9 with 3252 views | QPR_Jim |
Loftus Road. on 17:53 - Feb 9 by Juzzie | oh my god |
Hang on Juzzie, before you dismiss the idea, have you considered lowering the pitch? | | | |
Loftus Road. on 18:54 - Feb 9 with 3225 views | Juzzie |
Loftus Road. on 18:45 - Feb 9 by QPR_Jim | Hang on Juzzie, before you dismiss the idea, have you considered lowering the pitch? |
Dig down? Why hasn’t that been mentioned before…… | | | |
Loftus Road. on 19:12 - Feb 9 with 3178 views | Tonto |
Loftus Road. on 14:13 - Feb 9 by ActonExile | According to Les (in Hoos we trust, get it ;) ) Sorry, anyway Les said in a round about way that the clubs owners want to spend money but can't spend it on players, so why not pay off the school (they want to move anyway) then purchase a section of the back gardens or the whole of the properties on Loftus and Ellerslie Roads. There are approximately 40 houses at £0.5m per half a garden is £20m give the school £10m to sod off and £1m per house on Imre Close, a total of £45m. Then build a new ground holding 25-27k, we may even be able to build some flats on spare pieces and claw a bit of dough back. All of this would be a damn site better than a bit of wasteland in Park Royal or Heathrow. |
Cos planning regs won't allow it. | |
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Loftus Road. on 19:16 - Feb 9 with 3161 views | NewBee |
Loftus Road. on 09:43 - Feb 9 by NW10Hoop | I really feel for QPR on this front. I don't think Loftus road is fit for purpose, and arrive to games as late as possible having being in one of the many good pubs in Shepherds Bush. Bolton, or Derby or Brighton or Preston or Boro (and on and on) can just move to another part of their city and still have the same identity. Our identity is fixed to W12, one of the most expensive places on the planet per square foot. I would personally understand if we ended up moving further out, and as long as it's located near a station into central London, has enough pubs and places to eat after the game, and is worth getting into the stadium nice and early with adequate facilities - would be quite excited. I'd more likely be able to rope my kids into it in a more modern stadium |
"Bolton, or Derby or Brighton or Preston or Boro (and on and on) can just move to another part of their city and still have the same identity." Bolton didn't just move to another part of town, they moved to a business/retail park in Horwich, a different town entirely. As did Brighton - Falmer is basically a country village with a railway station and a dual carriageway nearby, 5 miles outside of the city. While Preston have been at Deepdale since 1878. None of which negates your argument as to the importance of QPR staying in W12 or nearby, but I'm a bit of a stickler for such things. Sorry. | | | |
Loftus Road. on 22:09 - Feb 9 with 3042 views | derbyhoop | On the QPR Podcast with Lee Hoos, LH said there is no development as far as Linford Christie is concerned, there are no current developments nor likely to be any in the near future. However, the brownfield site at Horn Lane in Acton looks big enough. It's close to Acton Main Line station but there are a number of businesses to buy out. Whether they can remove any of the railway lines might affect what could be done. In many respects, it reminds me of the site that has become Derby's Pride Park. | |
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Loftus Road. on 23:11 - Feb 9 with 2938 views | Hayesender |
Loftus Road. on 19:12 - Feb 9 by Tonto | Cos planning regs won't allow it. |
Ah, but didn't Hoos himself mention something at the last fans forum about potentially being offered the chance to buy the school? Maybe to make the corner bar bigger, but he did mention it | |
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Loftus Road. on 10:07 - Feb 10 with 2821 views | Juzzie | What will buying the school offer? Maybe it could transform the away end, a bit like what Arsenal did with the clock end at Highbury, and the stand could be re-built (though not happy if away fans get a lovey new stand) and it houses the dressing rooms, ref's & managers rooms, media facility, staff offices etc, all of which have been pinpointed as being currently inadequate, and maybe have function suites for non match day events but that would still leave the other three stands woefully inadequate. As has been said, all considerations such as digging down, buying up all the local houses (which are not "40 houses", they are hundreds of leaseholder flats as well as dozens of freeholders and who in their right mind is going to sell half their garden [if I read that right]?!), building over SA Road etc etc etc are all non-starters for all the reasons explained a million times. We could demolish the other three and rebuild but to cater for modern day regulations the capacity would drop and we'd probably end up with a stadium of around 15-17k. That's not really progress. [Post edited 10 Feb 2023 12:26]
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Loftus Road. on 13:26 - Feb 11 with 2612 views | NW10Hoop |
Loftus Road. on 19:16 - Feb 9 by NewBee | "Bolton, or Derby or Brighton or Preston or Boro (and on and on) can just move to another part of their city and still have the same identity." Bolton didn't just move to another part of town, they moved to a business/retail park in Horwich, a different town entirely. As did Brighton - Falmer is basically a country village with a railway station and a dual carriageway nearby, 5 miles outside of the city. While Preston have been at Deepdale since 1878. None of which negates your argument as to the importance of QPR staying in W12 or nearby, but I'm a bit of a stickler for such things. Sorry. |
Not sure if I got my point across, but I’m basically saying that having the ground in White City or Shepherd’s Bush is too tight a parameter to give the owners much chance of delivering a stadium that secures the club’s future. Me, and 95% of my school mates all moved away from the Bush. The house I grew up (an average terraced house off the Uxbridge Road) is now worth £1.5m quid on Zoopla and I’m guessing, not the ideal breeding ground for fans of mid-table Championship football. If we could find somewhere 30 minutes on public transport from Loftus Road, we be doing well I reckon | | | |
Loftus Road. on 14:40 - Feb 27 with 2387 views | CateLeBonR | I was just reading a little bit about Richard Reilly and FC Cincinnati. They’ve just moved into a new purpose built 26,000 seater stadium, the TQL Stadium. It’s won awards and stuff apparently and costed approx $250m Anyway I thought it might make a useful comparison for us to gauge the size of plot needed for a new football stadium, with a worthwhile increase in capacity for us. Using the measure distance tool in google maps, the width of the TQL stadium including stands is roughly 565 foot (172m) and the length is 602 foot (183m). Compare that to Loftus Rd which is about 351 foot (107m) by 462 foot (141m). With a few adjustments (digging down etc 😀) you could probably only just about fit a stadium that size onto the Linford Christie site. The Horn Lane plot is nowhere near enough. Not sure you’d even get Loftus Rd on that unless you’re talking about using the recreation ground alongside it too. Which I imagine would be difficult. | | | |
Loftus Road. on 14:56 - Feb 27 with 2297 views | CamberleyR |
Loftus Road. on 14:40 - Feb 27 by CateLeBonR | I was just reading a little bit about Richard Reilly and FC Cincinnati. They’ve just moved into a new purpose built 26,000 seater stadium, the TQL Stadium. It’s won awards and stuff apparently and costed approx $250m Anyway I thought it might make a useful comparison for us to gauge the size of plot needed for a new football stadium, with a worthwhile increase in capacity for us. Using the measure distance tool in google maps, the width of the TQL stadium including stands is roughly 565 foot (172m) and the length is 602 foot (183m). Compare that to Loftus Rd which is about 351 foot (107m) by 462 foot (141m). With a few adjustments (digging down etc 😀) you could probably only just about fit a stadium that size onto the Linford Christie site. The Horn Lane plot is nowhere near enough. Not sure you’d even get Loftus Rd on that unless you’re talking about using the recreation ground alongside it too. Which I imagine would be difficult. |
On Ealing Council's website it says the Horn Lane plot is 6.84 hectares which is bigger than the Dairy Crest site in Wood Lane (5.68 ha) that people on here have mentioned before that we missed out on. | |
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Loftus Road. on 15:08 - Feb 27 with 2227 views | Esox_Lucius |
Loftus Road. on 09:43 - Feb 9 by NW10Hoop | I really feel for QPR on this front. I don't think Loftus road is fit for purpose, and arrive to games as late as possible having being in one of the many good pubs in Shepherds Bush. Bolton, or Derby or Brighton or Preston or Boro (and on and on) can just move to another part of their city and still have the same identity. Our identity is fixed to W12, one of the most expensive places on the planet per square foot. I would personally understand if we ended up moving further out, and as long as it's located near a station into central London, has enough pubs and places to eat after the game, and is worth getting into the stadium nice and early with adequate facilities - would be quite excited. I'd more likely be able to rope my kids into it in a more modern stadium |
With a bit of vision, all that would be needed would be the rail and travel links as getting the right sized plot would allow for something similar to MK Dons stadium. Lease shops out for revenue, have pubs and food outlets/ sit down meals available etc. so that there is a steady income stream. Somewhere like the old Hillingdon ski slope site would be a suitable base and... an idea I have been musing over in my head up to now, the purpose built stadium to be built along the lines of the Boavista stadium to keep the Loftus Road feel and proximity to the pitch with a row of corporates dividing the upper and lower spectator areas. 20k at ground level, and 15-20k upper level which can be used or not used as necessary. Furthermore, a fully dedicated womens changing room and pre game fitness area to be built alongside the normal mens facilities and then, once it is nearly built, negotiate with the Englands Lionesses to use it as their home ground and sweeten the deal with the use of Heston as their training ground. This doesn't solve the problem of winning games with a crocked side but it most certainly would generate much needed revenue to prevent us dropping into the FFP feast or famine scenario we are currently locked into. This revenue generation is my one real gripe with the club, where are the next generation of fans going to come from if the club don't go out there and let communities know that they are an option. Use the U16's team to play friendly matches with schools at Heston or a schools competition with the final at Loftus Road t the end of the season when the state of the pitch isn't a consideration. Get in touch with the Middx. FA and see if they want to use the ground for their Vase final and maybe, if we ever get the new stadium built, the FA Trophy games. Sacking people who are already coping with the present situation isn't the answer IMO but getting them off their arses to move the club forward to a better future is something that needs repeating over and over until it happens. | |
| The grass is always greener. |
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Loftus Road. on 15:11 - Feb 27 with 2217 views | CateLeBonR |
Loftus Road. on 14:56 - Feb 27 by CamberleyR | On Ealing Council's website it says the Horn Lane plot is 6.84 hectares which is bigger than the Dairy Crest site in Wood Lane (5.68 ha) that people on here have mentioned before that we missed out on. |
Yes but that doesn’t take into account the shape of the land. The old dairy crest site is basically square and suitable for a football stadium. The Horn Lane site is long and narrow. The Latymer Upper School playing fields look almost ideal in terms of size and location but sadly out of reach for us. | | | |
Loftus Road. on 15:19 - Feb 27 with 2165 views | Lanhoop | Anyone measured the old golf range in Northolt? That's derelict and a short walk from Northolt station? | | | |
Loftus Road. on 15:35 - Feb 27 with 2106 views | NewBee |
Loftus Road. on 15:08 - Feb 27 by Esox_Lucius | With a bit of vision, all that would be needed would be the rail and travel links as getting the right sized plot would allow for something similar to MK Dons stadium. Lease shops out for revenue, have pubs and food outlets/ sit down meals available etc. so that there is a steady income stream. Somewhere like the old Hillingdon ski slope site would be a suitable base and... an idea I have been musing over in my head up to now, the purpose built stadium to be built along the lines of the Boavista stadium to keep the Loftus Road feel and proximity to the pitch with a row of corporates dividing the upper and lower spectator areas. 20k at ground level, and 15-20k upper level which can be used or not used as necessary. Furthermore, a fully dedicated womens changing room and pre game fitness area to be built alongside the normal mens facilities and then, once it is nearly built, negotiate with the Englands Lionesses to use it as their home ground and sweeten the deal with the use of Heston as their training ground. This doesn't solve the problem of winning games with a crocked side but it most certainly would generate much needed revenue to prevent us dropping into the FFP feast or famine scenario we are currently locked into. This revenue generation is my one real gripe with the club, where are the next generation of fans going to come from if the club don't go out there and let communities know that they are an option. Use the U16's team to play friendly matches with schools at Heston or a schools competition with the final at Loftus Road t the end of the season when the state of the pitch isn't a consideration. Get in touch with the Middx. FA and see if they want to use the ground for their Vase final and maybe, if we ever get the new stadium built, the FA Trophy games. Sacking people who are already coping with the present situation isn't the answer IMO but getting them off their arses to move the club forward to a better future is something that needs repeating over and over until it happens. |
No harm, EL, but that is surely "pie in the sky". For basically what you are saying is that the club should branch out into Property Development and considering the folks in charge of QPR aren't doing a very good job of the business of running a football club even after all this time, what makes you think they possess any more expertise in running a completely new type of business? Especially when that business has been taking a hammering for years now by online retailing, then Covid and subsequently work-from-home etc. (Which is why retail parks/shopping malls are currently being flogged off at knockdown prices. Or being knocked down!) As for MK Dons etc, that was 16 years ago (i.e. when retail was far less online), and was always a Retail Development in its own right looking for a football club (to secure Planning Permission). Whereas what you're talking about is a football club looking for a Retail development. And as for plonking it in Hillingdon... | | | |
Loftus Road. on 15:47 - Feb 27 with 2074 views | Esox_Lucius |
Loftus Road. on 15:35 - Feb 27 by NewBee | No harm, EL, but that is surely "pie in the sky". For basically what you are saying is that the club should branch out into Property Development and considering the folks in charge of QPR aren't doing a very good job of the business of running a football club even after all this time, what makes you think they possess any more expertise in running a completely new type of business? Especially when that business has been taking a hammering for years now by online retailing, then Covid and subsequently work-from-home etc. (Which is why retail parks/shopping malls are currently being flogged off at knockdown prices. Or being knocked down!) As for MK Dons etc, that was 16 years ago (i.e. when retail was far less online), and was always a Retail Development in its own right looking for a football club (to secure Planning Permission). Whereas what you're talking about is a football club looking for a Retail development. And as for plonking it in Hillingdon... |
Yes, very much pie in the sky but we are currently operating at a sludge in the bottom of a bucket when it comes to revenue generation. I started to hatch the idea when Jamie Rueben joined the board, a well known property developer, and I thought that was the way they were going. There will always be the option to co-opt a director in with just such a remit if required. I mentioned the ski slope as it is along the M40 corridor and runs through QPR heartland of Ealing, Northolt, Ruislip etc. The shooting club would be another ideal site if it was obtainable. | |
| The grass is always greener. |
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Loftus Road. on 16:30 - Feb 27 with 1966 views | NewBee |
Loftus Road. on 15:47 - Feb 27 by Esox_Lucius | Yes, very much pie in the sky but we are currently operating at a sludge in the bottom of a bucket when it comes to revenue generation. I started to hatch the idea when Jamie Rueben joined the board, a well known property developer, and I thought that was the way they were going. There will always be the option to co-opt a director in with just such a remit if required. I mentioned the ski slope as it is along the M40 corridor and runs through QPR heartland of Ealing, Northolt, Ruislip etc. The shooting club would be another ideal site if it was obtainable. |
Who is building new Retail Parks anywhere these days? It simply isn't happening, so why should it resume now? And as for locating it in Hiullingdon etc, Bees fans were as attached to Griffin Park as QPR fans are to Loftus Road. But the move to Lionel Road has been an overwhelming success, at least as successful as any other this century, and while PL football has been enormously helpful (obv), as is the stadium design/capacity, I cannot stress just how important it is that the new place is less than a mile down the road from the old place. And since QPR and BFC aren't that much different in terms of fanbase, tradition and history etc, I am convinced that if QPR are to move to a new stadium, as you surely must, it is absolutely essential that the new ground be as close to your W12 heartland as possible. | | | |
Loftus Road. on 16:49 - Feb 27 with 1893 views | Third_Division_South | Surely, the point about buying out the school is that you could build a new large stand at that end, but not all the way to the existing pitch. Once complete, the pitch could be moved up to the new stand, then the other three stands could be rebuilt to a more modern standard with a much larger loft end matching the rebuilt school end. The new SA and SB stands could have more space because the development of the two new ends would mean that the capacity would be about 22k seats overall which would be perfect for us. | | | |
Loftus Road. on 17:02 - Feb 27 with 1868 views | RBlock |
Loftus Road. on 16:30 - Feb 27 by NewBee | Who is building new Retail Parks anywhere these days? It simply isn't happening, so why should it resume now? And as for locating it in Hiullingdon etc, Bees fans were as attached to Griffin Park as QPR fans are to Loftus Road. But the move to Lionel Road has been an overwhelming success, at least as successful as any other this century, and while PL football has been enormously helpful (obv), as is the stadium design/capacity, I cannot stress just how important it is that the new place is less than a mile down the road from the old place. And since QPR and BFC aren't that much different in terms of fanbase, tradition and history etc, I am convinced that if QPR are to move to a new stadium, as you surely must, it is absolutely essential that the new ground be as close to your W12 heartland as possible. |
Except you can walk from Lionel Road to Griffin Park in under 30 minutes and still drink in a lot of the same pubs, plus Lionel Road has better transport options with the addition of the District Line at Gunnersbury. Moving out to Hillingdon is a whole different kettle of fish, as it means completely uprooting fans' match day routines and traditions which make it worth going. | | | |
Loftus Road. on 17:02 - Feb 27 with 1867 views | Sonofpugwash |
Loftus Road. on 16:49 - Feb 27 by Third_Division_South | Surely, the point about buying out the school is that you could build a new large stand at that end, but not all the way to the existing pitch. Once complete, the pitch could be moved up to the new stand, then the other three stands could be rebuilt to a more modern standard with a much larger loft end matching the rebuilt school end. The new SA and SB stands could have more space because the development of the two new ends would mean that the capacity would be about 22k seats overall which would be perfect for us. |
We've been trying to buy the school since the last Ice Age. | |
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Loftus Road. on 20:36 - Feb 27 with 1655 views | MedwayR | The school site only covers about 3/4 of the school end anyway, so we couldn't redevelop the entire stand in the normal manner. The only way I could see the school site being useful was for us to keep Loftus Rd as it is and just add the money making facilities where the school is. The alternative is to knock it all down, and with the houses being the biggest restriction, get rid of the Loft End and Ellerslie Rd stands to move the pitch as far into that corner as possible, build a mega stand (as much as possible anyway) on South Africa Rd and extend that round the School End as much as possible whilst housing as many facilities behind the School End as possible. No idea how plausible that is or what capacity we'd end up with but it would maximise the site. | |
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Loftus Road. on 20:36 - Feb 27 with 1653 views | Damo1962 |
Loftus Road. on 15:19 - Feb 27 by Lanhoop | Anyone measured the old golf range in Northolt? That's derelict and a short walk from Northolt station? |
You hold one end of the tape measure...I'll take the other end 😉 | | | |
Loftus Road. on 21:37 - Feb 27 with 1566 views | wombat |
Loftus Road. on 15:11 - Feb 27 by CateLeBonR | Yes but that doesn’t take into account the shape of the land. The old dairy crest site is basically square and suitable for a football stadium. The Horn Lane site is long and narrow. The Latymer Upper School playing fields look almost ideal in terms of size and location but sadly out of reach for us. |
Avery simple solution for dairy crest was to build over the top of White City station for the extra land needed for fans to access and exit the ground , wok stadium would have easily fitted on three with the best transport links for any stadium in the Uk on its door step | |
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