The Boleyn Ground, often referred to as Upton Park, was a football stadium located in Upton Park, East London. It was the home of West Ham United from 1904 to 2016, and was briefly used by Charlton Athletic in the early 1990s during their years of financial difficulty. The seating capacity of the ground at closure was 35,016.
From the 2016–17 season, West Ham United have played their home matches at the London Stadium in nearby Stratford. The last first-class match played at the Boleyn Ground was on 10 May 2016, a 3–2 West Ham United win in the Premier League against Manchester United.
The stadium was demolished in 2016 to make way for a new development.
History
West Ham United took up tenancy of the Boleyn Ground from local club Boleyn Castle in 1904, after the two clubs amalgamated. West Ham rented Green Street House and grounds in East Ham from the Roman Catholic Church from around 1912. Green Street House was known locally as Boleyn Castle because of its imposing nature and an association with Anne Boleyn, who had either stayed at or, as some believe, owned the house. Hence the ground became known as the Boleyn Ground. However, over the years the ground was more often referred to as Upton Park, after the Upton Park, London area where it is located.
In August 1944, a V-1 flying bomb fell on the south-west corner of the pitch. This forced West Ham to play its matches at other grounds while repairs were undertaken, but it did not affect performances as West Ham managed nine consecutive victories. Upon their return to the ground in December 1944, they lost 1–0 to Tottenham Hotspur.
By 1990, West Ham were required to convert Upton Park into an all-seater stadium for the 1994–95 season in order to comply with the requirements of the Taylor Report. The first stage of the redevelopment came in 1993, when the South Bank was replaced by a 9,000 seat, two-tier stand named in honour of former captain Bobby Moore, who had died earlier that year. The stand incorporated executive boxes as well as a digital clock. The North Bank was demolished in 1994 and a new 6,000 seat, two-tier stand named the "Centenary Stand" was opened on its site the following year; this was later renamed the "Sir Trevor Brooking Stand". The East Stand Lower was also converted into an all-seater stand.
The final change came in 2000, when the West Stand was replaced by a 15,000 seat, two-tier stand named the "Dr. Martens Stand". The stand incorporated executive boxes on two levels as well as the West Ham United Hotel. This gave the stadium a 35,000 all-seater capacity.
There were plans to increase the capacity to approximately 40,500 through the building of a new larger East Stand, that would have used the spare space created when the Doctor Martens stand was built further West than the old West Stand. However, these plans never came to fruition.
Decision to demolish
Through 2006, talk was rife of West Ham moving to the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Summer Olympics, with speculation increasing after new club chairman Eggert Magnusson confirmed he was interested in a move there. However, talks broke down between the club and the Olympic Committee after it was announced the Stadium would be reduced to a 25,000 capacity all-seater after the Olympic Games, which was 10,000 less than the Boleyn Ground's capacity, and the stadium would be keeping its running track, leaving supporters further from the pitch and affecting the atmosphere within the stadium. Rumours suggested West Ham might move to a new stadium at the Parcelforce depot near to West Ham Underground/mainline station instead. Indeed, on 7 November 2007, Mayor of London Ken Livingstone announced a new site had been identified for West Ham's new stadium.
However, in 2009, club CEO Scott Duxbury announced West Ham had obtained planning permission to expand the East Stand; this would have brought the stadium's capacity over 40,000.