John Smith’s Stadium - Huddersfield Town Stadium Guide

The decision to construct a new stadium for the town of Huddersfield was made in August 1992, with the £40 million pound project headed by a consortium of Kirklees Metropolitan Council, Huddersfield Town F.C and Huddersfield Giants Rugby League Club.

Originally ownership of the new ground was to be split 40:40:20 however after the owner of the football club, Ken Davy, purchased The Giants, the ground is now split 60:40 with the council.

Previously Huddersfield Town F.C had played at the historical Leeds Road ground which had its first opened in 1908.

Designed in part by Archibald Leitch, the record attendance was set on the 27th February 1932 when 67,037 fans saw The Terriers took on Arsenal. By the time the ground played its last fixture on 30th April 1994 however, only 16,195 attended the 2-1 win against Blackpool.

Demolished and rebuilt as a retail park, Leeds Road Stadium was no longer suitable for the modern era of football after the publication of the Taylor Report in 1990.

Aiming to eliminate unsafe terracing from the game, the writing for a lot of British stadiums was on the wall in the 1980s after the tragic fire at Valley Parade. As a result Bradford City played six home games at Leeds Road during the 1985-1986 season.

During the planning and construction phrase, the ground was referred to as The Kirklees Stadium, however the constructors, Alfred McAlpine, who would later go on to design Wigan’s DW Stadium, signed a 10 year deal for exclusive naming rights.

After opting not to renew, Kirklees became known as Galpharm stadium between 2004-2012 and since 2012 has been called The John Smith’s Stadium.

Upon opening at the start of the 1994/1995 season only The Riverside and Kilner Banks Stands were completed, with the south stand finished later on in December.

Construction on the final piece of the jigsaw, the north stand, began much later in 1996, and was completed slowly over two years later so that it didn’t disrupt the hosting of sporting events. This resulted in today’s capacity of 24,500.

View of John Smith’s Stadium

Below is a seating plan of Huddersfield Town's John Smith’s Stadium:

Huddersfield’s ground is comprised of the following four sections: The Fantastic Media Stand (North), The Britannia Rescue Stand (East), The John Smiths Stand (South), and The Main Stand (West).

Click the thumbnails above to enlarge an image of each stand and to read a more detailed description of each part of the Stadium.

Traveling supporters who visit John Smiths Stadium are allocated the entirety of the South Stand which is capable of holding an estimated 4,000 spectators.

The fact that Huddersfield’s ground consists of four separate stands which aren’t fully enclosed actually helps to benefit the atmosphere, with the element of tribalism preserved which helps to stimulate good-natured exchanges of chants and songs between both sets of supporters.

Perhaps due to the elliptical shape of the stands or other factors such as the friendliness of the Huddersfield fans, The John Smiths Stadium produces decent noise levels, and overall the ground appears to have the right conditions to create a decent match-day experience.

The soft-factors such as the concourse, efficiency of kiosks and everything else is all unremarkable which means that the designers of the stadium have done a decent job. Food is reasonably priced, and as to be expected, the sponsor’s beer is on tap.

Within a maximum of 15 minutes walk of the stadium there are three potential bars you might want to consider depending on your starting location.

Towards the south on St Andrew’s Road there is the Premier Inn Hotel which has a large bar within the connected Table Table restaurant, westwards there is the Yorkshire Rose Country Pub, and to the north there is the Rope Walk Flaming Grill.

As the closest option to the stand, Rope Walk, is usually the most popular with the bar more than accommodating to both sets of supporters on matchdays.

They even have the art of quick-service down to a tee with a single-line queuing system and well-drilled members of staff.

Upon exiting Huddersfield Railway Station in the centre of town, there are also a number of pubs to choose from including The Cherry Tree which bills itself as a “buzzy bar for real ale” and the Kings Head which sign contains an image of guitarist Jimi Hendrix.

To the north-east of the stadium next to Odeon cinema there is a Pizza Hut restaurant and slightly further along across the River along the A62 Leeds road there is a McDonalds and KFC.

Inside the stadium there is the usual fare on offer such as burgers, pies, hot-dogs and sausage rolls.

Huddersfield Town Club Shop

Huddersfield Town’s club store is located at the stadium and is known as the superstore, with The Terriers online store known as the HTAFC Megastore.

The opening times for the club shop are as follows:

• Monday to Friday: 9.00 am – 5.00 pm
• Saturday Matchdays: 9.00 am – kick-off
• Saturday non-matchdays and away days: 9.00 am – 12.00 pm
• Sundays: Closed

The stadium operators offer a guided tour for parties of 10 or more on most days throughout the year via appointment.

The tour covers usually restricted access areas such as Huddersfield Town’s dressing rooms, the players’ tunnel and even the pitch itself.

To book your place on the tour you can either phone 01484 484151 or 01484 484152, email [email protected] or visit John Smith’s Stadium Website.

Ticker prices for the Championship are priced using a five tier category system, although the below section only shows the cheapest (D) and most expensive prices (A*) for simplicity,

Fantastic Media Stand

• Adults: £20.00 – £26.00
• Senior/Concessions: £13.00 – £19.00
• Under 18s: £5.00 – £10.00

Fantastic Media Family Stand

• Adults: £22.00 – £30.00
• Senior/Concessions: £13.00 – £20.00
• Under 18s: £8.00 – £12.00

Kilner Bank Stand

• Adults: £22.00 – £30.00
• Senior/Concessions: £13.00 – £21.00
• Under 18s: £8.00 – £12.00

Revell Ward Stand

• Adults: £25.00 – £33.00
• Senior/Concessions: £17.00 – £25.00
• Under 18s: £8.00 – £12.00

To purchase Huddersfield Town tickets you can either do so via the ticket hotline (01484 484123), in person at the stadium club shop and ticket office or online via the official e-ticketing seller.

John Smith’s stadium is located on the bank of the River Colne approximately 1 mile north-east of Huddersfield city centre within a loosely defined out of town industrial and shopping area.

John Smiths Stadium Address for satnav is:

• Stadium Way, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, HD1 6PG.

Car Parks

There are 2 decent sized car parks at the stadium which you can purchase a parking ticket for on the day of the match: Town Avenue and St Andrews.

Town Avenue Car Park is located north of the river and is accessible from both Leeds Road and stadium way, with St Andrews Car park only accessible from Stadium Way.

Huddersfield’s main train station is located in St. George’s Square exactly 0.8 miles from the ground which equates to a walking time of around 15 minutes for the average fan.

There is also Deighton train station located 20 minutes north but this isn’t an express station and is all but useless to anyone who isn’t local.

Walking Instructions:

1. Upon exiting the station (which is a cul-de-sac) follow railway street as it changes into Northumberland Street and branches off into Leeds Road, crossing the busy A62 South gate junction in the process.
2. Follow Leeds Road (A62) until you can turn right onto Gasworks Street, crossing the Broad Canal
3. From this road you will come onto Stadium way which crosses the River Colne and takes you to the John Smith’s stadium.

The closest hotels to John Smith’s Stadium are either the Travelodge on Leeds Road or The Premier Inn located on St Andrew’s Road.

Back within the city centre, The Central Lodge Hotel and The George are two options located close to Huddersfield railway station.