The Avenue
 Final Game at The Avenue, against Saracens |
|
| Full name | The Avenue |
|---|---|
| Location | The Avenue, Sunbury-on-Thames, TW16 5EQ |
| Owner | London Irish Holdings Ltd. |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Built | 1931 |
| Opened | 1931 |
| Closed | 2014 |
| Demolished | 2014 |
| Tenants | |
| London Irish London Irish Amateur |
1931-1999 1999-2014 |
The Avenue was a rugby union stadium and training pitches in Sunbury-on-Thames that belonged to the English club London Irish since 1931 when the team purchased 11 acres (4.5 ha) to establish a club there. The team moved to the Stoop Memorial Ground in 1999 and then subsequently to Madjeski Stadium in 2000, but retained The Avenue as a training venue and location for pre-season friendlies and Aviva A League matches. In 2014 the club began to train at its new, larger Hazlewood facility in the same town, including the "London Irish England Rugby Academy" and the grounds are being converted to surburban housing interspersed with some parkland.
The land was purchased in 1931 for £1,280 (equivalent to £78,435 in 2015) to be the home stadium for London Irish, before they left in 1999 to play at the Stoop Memorial Ground. The ground then began to be used by the London Irish Amateur side. It was also used as a training venue for London Irish and venue for London Irish England Rugby Academy. At its peak, The Avenue could hold up to 6,600 spectators.London Irish played their last senior league game at The Avenue on 1 May 1999 against Saracens.
London Irish published in 2009 its plans to demolish its training facility that was its ancestral home ground to replace it with 400 houses while relocating the club offices and training to redevelop nearby Hazelwood Golf Centre.
At the local government planning committee meeting, the councillors of all parties opposed redevelopment, citing various grounds, including limited public transport, increasing existing peak hour congestion, too few bedrooms per dwelling and initially a highly urban density as well as some character shortcomings. As a result of the plans, local residents set up protest groups against the plans, such as the Sunbury Opposes London Irish Development (SOLID) which shared some resources with Lower Sunbury Residents Association. On 15 April 2010, around 500 local people attended a protest march against the plans, claiming that London Irish just wanted to make money off the land despite the club's claim that it would engage with the community. The plans did however have the support of the Rugby Football Union, Premier Rugby, Sport England and the Rugby Player's Association.
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