Harrogate Town reveals clubhouse plans for latest expansion of EnviroVent Stadium

The club wants to use the proposed two-storey building to serve home fans refreshments on match days and also provide a new upper floor area for spectators at the Wetherby Road ground.

It marks the latest expansion plans for the stadium which has seen several new stands, turnstiles and a ticket office built to take its capacity to 5,000 after the club won its historic promotion to the English Football League (EFL) in 2020.

The latest proposals submitted to Harrogate Borough Council said the club is now in need of more space for fans in order to meet EFL requirements.

The plans said: "Aside from the small pay and go refreshment kiosks around the site, the club currently have no other enclosed spectator facilities within the ground for home fans to get refreshments.

"The facility is therefore required to allow the ground to meet regulations associated with the EFL membership criteria which requires refreshment facilities to be available to home and away fans in separate areas of the ground."

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The plans also said the club’s success means that match days attract more spectators which in turn is "raising the profile of the town nationally" and "increasing the number of visitors to Harrogate".

This comes after club chairman Irving Weaver - who is the father of manager Simon Weaver - first set out plans to develop the ground in 2012.

Three new stands were built during the 2018/19 season, taking the capacity to over 4,000. This was followed by the opening of two standing terraces and a seated stand in summer 2019.

After promotion to the EFL in August 2020, the club's artificial 3G pitch was replaced with grass. In addition to this, a new main stand was constructed with close to 1,000 seats, boosting the capacity of the stadium to 5,000.

By Jacob Webster, Local Democracy Reporter