Leicester City expansion to make East Stand one of the biggest in Britain

By Luke Williamson

Leicester City Football Club’s plans to expand on the King Power Stadium’s East Stand have taken years of planning but now clearer details have been released.

Planning documents have revealed the true size of the expansion proposal – with the number of new general admission seats totalling more than 8,200, taking the stadium’s total capacity to more than 40,000.

This would take the capacity of the East Stand to more than 19,300 spectators, making it one of the largest stands in terms of capacity in Britain.

Data collated by Talksport.com shows the largest capacity stands in Great Britain and where the new East Stand will compare (‘bowl’ stadiums that are connected all around the stadium have not been included in the research as it is too difficult to judge).

As shown in the graph, the East Stand would become the fifth biggest stand in club football in Great Britain, bigger than Aston Villa’s Holte End and Manchester United’s Stretford End.

The Sir Alex Ferguson stand at Old Trafford is the biggest stand in British football, with a capacity of 25,500, ahead of Celtic’s North Stand and the Bill Struth Stand at their Glasgow neighbours, Rangers, and Liverpool’s Main Stand at Anfield.

And the height of the new stand has been revealed too – it is proposed it will stand at 47 metres tall, while the hotel will stand at 73.6m, with the club hoping that both will be visible from the city’s train station more than a mile away.

The video, made in Google Earth Studio, shows just how far the station is from the King Power.

Concourses in the North and South stands will also be renovated and extended – a new detail that was discovered in the release of the planning documents last week.

A 6,000-capacity indoor arena, residential tower, hotel with multi-storey car park and two-storey club store will be built alongside the stadium expansion, with varied dates of when the work is expected to be finished.

The Foxes Chairman, Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, told Business Live: “The unveiling of these plans represents a significant milestone in the long history of Leicester City Football Club, and one that we hope will continue to put our supporters and our community at the heart of its long-term future.”

The public consultation on the plans is ongoing, with the period for people to have their say on the planning application ending on Tuesday, December 7.