Barnet Football Club’s supporters hoping their team’s top-of-the table position in the National League bodes well for a return to Underhill
Leaflets promoting Bring Barnet Back are being distributed across the town as the campaign hots up to persuade Barnet Council to approve plans for a new football stadium at Underhill.
If playing form is any guide, the club might be hoping for a warm welcome: Barnet is currently top of the National League and well placed for promotion to League Two of the English Football League.
Barnet haven’t been beaten in their last 21 National League fixtures. The Bees have now established an nine-point lead at the top of the table after their stunning mid-week 5-0 defeat of Yeovil Town at The Hive (4.3.2025).
However promising their performances on the pitch, the chances of Barnet playing again at Underhill are finely balanced.
The outcome depends on whether Barnet Council can be persuaded that there is a special case for a new stadium to be built within the Green Belt on playing fields at Underhill, close to the site of the original stadium which was demolished to make way for the Ark Pioneer Academy.
Opponents to the project, who are against the loss of Green Belt land and who fear traffic congestion generated by a new stadium, are rallying support around a petition which has attracted over 18,800 signatures.
A strong case is being made for the new site on the grounds that careful landscaping would reduce the visual impact of the stadium, and that the environment and biodiversity would be greatly improved with extensive tree planting and the creation of a pond between the stadium and the Dollis Valley green walk.
Seen above with an artist’s impression of the site are Sean McGrath (left) of consultants WSP and architect Manuel Nogueira of AndArchitects
Much of the emphasis in the club’s campaign to play again at Underhill is based on the economic impact.
Club chairman Tony Kleanthous has promised to finance the building of the new stadium, at a cost of around £14 million, and the estimate is that it should sustain the equivalent of 78 full-time jobs when taking into account all those working part time on match days.
On some estimates the return of the club could add £6 million a year to the Barnet economy, including £2.1 million from extra business for the town’s traders over a 23-week season.
If the application for a new stadium fails to get approval – and Barnet are denied a chance to rebuild the strong local support which they once enjoyed – there are stark warnings that the club’s long-term future is in grave doubt.
Representatives from community groups including the Barnet Society, Barnet Residents Association and Love Barnet have been advised that attendances at the club’s current base at The Hive Football Centre are not sufficient for long-term financial viability.
What was described as “a considerable financial shortfall” is having to be made up by Mr Kleanthous, the Barnet FC chairman and owner.
The Hive, midway between Edgware and Standmore, which is also owned by Mr Kleanthous, is a separate financial entity.
Its pitch, training facilities and diagnostic centre are used by a range of other clubs as well as Barnet and because of its proximity to Wembley it is often used as a training camp by visiting teams.
Since moving to The Hive in 2013, Barnet have failed to match the attendances at Underhill.
Currently the average gate is around 1,800. A move back to Underhill could increase that to around 3,500 given the strength of local support with the new stadium having a maximum capacity of 7,000 spectators.
Additional revenue from ticket sales could bring in an extra £500,000 a season and that could be matched by an equivalent amount in sponsorship which together would be make up the current shortfall which on some estimates is around £1 million a year.
If the club fails to get approval for a new stadium there are doubts as to whether Mr Kleanthous would be prepared to make a fresh attempt to return to Barnet.
His view is that if the community are against the club’s return and there is not the support which Bring Barnet Back believe there is, then there is little more that he can do.
But without the injection of additional revenue, the fear is that within four to five years’ time Barnet might no longer be sustainable financially.
With help from the distribution of funds from the Premier League, the club says it would establish a new charitable foundation at Barnet which would offer a range of activities with an outreach to local schools and support for local clubs.
Once back in Barnet, the club’s aim would be to establish community initiatives and there any number of possibilities, including, for example, the possibility of providing space for a local foodbank or other projects.
The club would open a new diagnostics and imaging centre at the new stadium in line with the facilities provided at The Hive which a said to be recognised as one of the best screening facilities at a football club.
20 thoughts on “Barnet Football Club’s supporters hoping their team’s top-of-the table position in the National League bodes well for a return to Underhill”
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Many thanks, Charles, for reading and commenting on my contribution to the discussion.
I well recall having to run back home from the playing fields when the air raid warning siren sounded during the war.
I recall the sadness of going to Stamford Bridge in 1948 and watching Barnet lose 1-0 to Leytonstone in the Amateur Cup Final.
The playing fields are not ‘too hilly for sport’. Please read my comment again, and those of Nina, go for a walk across these lovely fields, see them for yourself and enjoy the experience.
The large area of Barnet playing fields adjacent to the Dollis Brook and Grasvenor Avenue where the football club is proposing to build a huge 7000-seater stadium is currently a precious, public, green space.
It is a relatively flat site and so at any one time there may be several games of football being played there by young people, local residents enjoying a walk, joggers exercising safely and families picnicking in the summer.
There are no other similar recreational areas in this part of Barnet.
I was fortnate to live next to the playing fields and spent many happy hours there as a child during and after the war.
After the war I watched Barnet play at Underhill and have followed their fortunes with interest since then.
Much as I would like to see them based in Barnet again, the loss of these irreplaceable playing fields is far too high a price for local people to pay for the club to be ‘brought back to Barnet’.
To clarify, you spent “many happy hours during the war” on the Barnet Playing Fields?
Me too Owen. I have lived in this area all my life and also spent my whole childhood with my brother and sister on these fields playing football, cricket, even badminton-when the wind didn’t take over! I remember in 1970’s that at the start of every winter, the goalposts used to be put up all over this field that they now want to build on. They used to come with the white paint and mark out each football pitch. I remember the amateur football matches that were played. There used to be changing rooms along the path parallel with Grasvenor Avenue. The sea gulls used to sit on the goal posts and look like a scene from “The Birds”. Sometimes the field was covered with feathers. These fields are indeed part of my heritage and my fond memories.
We must think about building a sustainable future to our children and the future generations. I am concerned that a stadium close by two secondary schools, Ark Pioneer and The Totteridge Academy, will inevitably add traffic congestion, pollution and be disruptive for children. In addition, the stadium will take the space of children enjoying the green belt everyday, and this will not improve the environment. The initiative to build a stadium focuses on the insterests of the football club but disregards the health and wellbeing of the Barnet as a community. The proposal should not be progressed.
How many children do you see ‘enjoying the green belt’? Having a football club walking distance from where they live might actually encourage them to come out of their bedrooms, off their screens and support a local asset.
The traffic congestion already exists, thanks to the building of an extra school yards from an existing one – but that is Monday to Friday between 8 and 9 in the morning. No football matches will be played at this time.
Indeed, 15 or so Saturdays a year isn’t going to have much of an impact, especially as most supporters walk or use public transport to go to football matches.
I fully support the planning application. My Mum and Dad bought our family home in Sherrards Way, a ‘stones throw’ from Underhill in 1958 when I was 3 years old. When I was 5 my late father took me to Underhill for the first time. I am so grateful to him as it started a love affair with the club that has endured through good times and bad. Now I’m 70 and a season ticket holder.
It was a bitter blow when the club had to move out of the Borough. We have a great stadium at The Hive but the move back to Underhill is essential for future viability of the club. And surely Barnet FC should be in Barnet.
I accept that those who object to the plans will not be persuaded by emotional arguments and so my comments are based on facts.
Over recent years Barnet High Street has really struggled and is in a poor state. I took a drive the other day and from the traffic lights at the junction with St Albans Road to the traffic lights at High Barnet underground station there are 9 empty units and 6 charity shops. The area is crying out for people to generate income. The High Street and Greenhill Parade will hugely benefit from the expected £2.1m boost to the local economy; not to mention the increase in job opportunities. The Bring Barnet Back campaign have spoken to the owners and managers of the shops are there is overwhelming support to get Barnet FC back. This is a generational chance for private investment in the Borough.
The loss of Green Belt is a concern to many. I include myself in that. I have long been a keen environmental campaigner but let’s be honest the stadium represents the loss of less than 0.3% of the total amount of Green Belt in the Borough.
Indeed the design of the stadium with solar panels, rainwater harvesting, increased biodiversity with a new pond and tree planting is to be admired and applauded. In addition the stadium itself will be built on ecological principles and will have a sunken design to minimise its impact.
The club are also investing in new medical facilities which will be made available to residents of the Borough.
All of these benefits and it will not cost the Council or the community a single penny. It will be fully funded by the club and provide a much needed financial support and employment opportunities to the community.
I have read a number of comments on the Council planning website and there are some misapprehensions. Some argue that the traffic will be intolerable when football traffic is added to school traffic. However matches will not be played during the school times. In any event there is a simple solution to avoid football traffic in the immediate area, and that is to introduce residents only parking.
Barnet FC need to return to its spiritual home.
The increased traffic argument was not a problem when the club was at Underhill, and it’ll only be once a week. The school traffic is every day, twice a day, and didn’t prevent the Ark being approved.
The tube station is on the doorstep so many visitors will arrive by train, not car.
Local businesses deserve this boost.
The owner is putting up the money.
Bring The Bees home
Bring them back! The impact a football club can have on a local community should never be underestimated and Barnet is in desperate need for some rejuvenation. The benefits so clearly outweigh the minor negatives that this once in a generation opportunity needs to be approved.
This is an incredibly biased piece which doesn’t scrutinise Barnet FC’s statements at all or offer an alternative viewpoint. Lovely computer-generated pictures of a stadium on a sunny day with a bit of biodiversity does not make a strong case!
I appreciate Barnet Fans wanting to be back in the borough but the club left in 2013 and in 2015 the Chairman announced he wouldn’t look for new home. Why does he now think its acceptable to demand, for free, a piece of greenbelt land owned by the taxpayers– despite the dubious “Community” stadium offerings.
Currently local residents, youth football teams, runners etc can access the playing fields to improve their physical and mental health at any time of day, all year round. Unless Barnet FC are planning to allow access to its expensive, new first team pitch (unlikely!) they have offered nothing to mitigate the loss of this green space. I don’t think a concrete path around a grey stadium really is a suitable alternative. If I want to walk around a building I’ll walk around Brent Cross!
The benefit to the local economy is overstated. A £2.1million injection to the high street would mean at least 2000 supporters spending £45 every game over a 23 wk season – that’s on top of buying a ticket and spend in the stadium! Also how are Barnet FC creating so many new jobs? I assume they have a full staff at The Hive and unless they plan to sack all those staff and employ new staff in Barnet, I can’t see how so many new jobs can be created? Finally the Community medical facilities sound great, but in practice a private MRI facility that costs me £25 a month is a bit misleading…but I suppose putting more money back in Mr Kleanthous’ pocket via NHS funds isn’t the worst part of this proposal. Surely, we should not be championing space for food banks as a benefit!! We should be working towards a society where we don’t need food banks, for goodness sake.
I certainly don’t want Barnet to fold and If I were Mr Kleanthous I would work on improving the match day experience at The Hive, perhaps look at putting on shuttle buses between Barnet and The Hive to address fans comments around travel and bringing the community scheme back to Barnet (a borough that is so important to them) and building a new generation of supporters who don’t have the emotional attachment to Underhill and can get behind the club at The Hive – a perfectly good stadium!
I totally agree with you. I love going for a run in this beautiful green space and it would be totally unfair to take that away from us locals. That bit of green space is precisely why Barnet is the best borough in the city. They MUST not build on it!
Well said Anna! The proposed plot is a big open field, where the fresh air freely flows. It has an uniqueness about it as it can feel like being at being at the seaside. Just to refer to it as 0.3 % of Barnet greenbelt is very detrimental.
I so agree. There are so many questionable arguments pro stadium. How was figure of 2.1 million for the High Street arrived at? How do they even know that most supporters will want to eat out before the match? They say there will not be traffic problems as most are local and will walk, so won’t they eat at home? Why would all the ones who “arrive on public transport” be willing to or even want to divert their journey to do a High St shopping spree before doing a fair walk down to get to the match? Aside from that, have they actually done an exact survey of who will drive and who won’t? How do we even know that all the people that say they are pro stadium will actually regularly attend matches, as many claim that they have never been to the Hive as it is too far away. How motivated are they actually? They talk of the stadium having eco diversity and positives for the community (how much again isn’t clear) but how can we be sure all this will be maintained as once the stadium is built? What will stop Barnet FC to want to expand even further over the park? On these flimsy premises it appears they asking us to sacrifice our well used community, open access park whose green open space can give scientifically proven mental heath benefits all. I strongly oppose this development.
While I think there are definitely some reservations and valid scepticism about the plans, the figures produced by the club are robust and backed by considerable research. In response to your comment
1. The chairman is not demanding the land for free. There has been no mention of this anywhere in the plans and there is no incentive for the council to give it up for free.
2. The particular part of the field for the stadium is practically deserted. It is too hilly for any sport (youth football teams etc) and the joggers mentioned run on the path rather than the field. There is no impact on the playground or other parts of the field that are actually used.
3. The stadium design is highly sensitive to the environment and increases biodiversity by 14% and includes a new pond which will further support local habitats. The current field has barely any biodiversity by nature of it being a disused grass field that lies empty and has no other flowers / fauna.
4. The £2.1 million economic benefits are understated, not overstated. This figure is taken not just from match-day spending but from the relocation of 78 full time jobs to the area. Again, all these figures are cross-referenced extensively in the planning documents – not just a back of the paper calculation.
5. The community medical facilities would include an MRI scanner but there is no mention that this would be fee-based in the planning documents or elsewhere.
6. I agree entirely with you that would like a society without food banks. The point is less about the food banks themsleves but more regarding the space for community groups which are exceptionally limited in Barnet. The reality is that (according the Barnet Society themselves), the numbers of people seeking support from food banks in Barnet has been increasing rapidly. An unintended side of effect of relentless NIMBYism has been the inflation of house prices in the borough as most attempts at planning / building are fought by wealther homeowners. The knock down effect of housing / rent costs spiralling up is the cost of living crisis and increasing need for food banks that will only continue for as long as the desires of wealthy homeowners (average property price in EN5 was over £635k last year) are prioritised over building community spaces and multi-use facilities.
7. I appreciate your point about not wanting Barnet to fold. The reality is that Barnet’s future is not sustainable at the Hive – a location outside the borough and one that takes 1h20m to make via public transport. The club can’t survive unless it returns to its 107 year old home in EN5.
I think this is an issue on which reasonable people can disagree. This isn’t a biased piece. We’ve allowed ourselves as a society to become so anti-development and progress to appease homeowners that all change and development is seen a threat. I think your comment is fair in some places, but the overwhelming majority of criticism is self-interest for the top 5% of property owners in the UK masquerading as concern of the environment. That’s completely fine (I’m sure in their position, I would say the same!), but the majority of criticism is the same unreflective thinking that has seen the UK wander into infrastructure, inequality and cost of living crisis over the past 20-30 years.
The Barnet Society have been measured and critical of inappropriate development. This is clearly a sensitive and well thought through proposal that mitigates the loss of 0.3% of greenbelt land through thoughtful development.
Yes Home is where the heart is and our home needs to be back in Barnet, the town needs us back and so does the local community for all the benefits it would bring. We were born here, lived here for over a 100 years and would like to return to continue all the benefits we give to the local community.
Barnet’s high street is a wash with charity shops and closed shop fronts …… the town needs its football club back for economic reasons as much as cultural. Bring Barnet FC home, my two young children would love to support their local football team and it was a crime they ever left.
Barnet has no community assets. The club was cruelly forced to leave its spiritual home by a misguided council and a handful of residents, who ended up even worse off thanks to the frankly ridiculous decision to build a school on the old site. The town is dying, the High Street is dead and we have an opportunity to bring some energy and positivity to the place with a genuine community asset, open to all. I emphatically reject the suggestion from the poster above that the project would be for the ‘benefit of a few’. It is the exact opposite – it will benefit thousands of people, in particular youngsters, who currently have zero community activities available locally. The proposed site is currently used by a handful of dog walkers. It can and should be put to better use.
I love that the plans for the new stadium respect the character of the area, which was home to a football stadium for over 100 years. And the plans for the new stadium are so sleek, so beautiful.
It is good to know that the wider Barnet community will also benefit, with potential for access to the very many facilities and resources which are planned.
Many new jobs will be created, and significant new income will flow into the Barnet economy.
What a boost for Barnet!
There are already over 18,000 signatures for this commercial venture not to be built against a few thousand supporters for a stadium to be used 23 weeks of the year. It makes no sense, especially with all the proposed developments planned in Barnet, to lose green belt land and a place for people to enjoy for the benefit of a few. This should be stopped immediately.
My boy now 13 lives with his mum in Barnet, we have always gone to support the bees. I travel down from Yorkshire most home games and we both have such a bond surrounded by Barnet FC. The hive isn’t home and never will be. We both spend hours chatting about how good it would be to see the bees back home. I’m sure my son’s children one day will follow our footsteps and follow the bees. Barnet isn’t Barnet without our team back at Underhill.