Holker Street/SO Legal Stadium (Barrow-in-Furness)

Holker Street (also known as the SO Legal Stadium), is a sports stadium in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. As well as being a football ground, it has also been used for motorcycle speedway. Its owners and tenants are Barrow A.F.C., who started playing at the ground in 1909.

General information

Arena capacity: 5,400 spectators

Address: Barrow-in-Furness LA14 5UW, UK

GPS coordinates for the navigator: 54°7′24″N 3°14′6″W

Year of construction: 1909

Field: grass lawn with dimensions of 101 x 68 m

Seating plan of Holker Street

The Holker Street End

The Holker Street End underwent notable renovation work that included the addition of a blue and white striped roof. It is mostly standing terrace that also contains an area of seating for 130 people. It also has a good level of protection from above and behind offered by the new roof, with a couple of rows of metal bars running across the terraced area for fans to lean on.

There are supporting pillars coming down from the roof at regular intervals however, and they are likely to restrict your view of the pitch slightly depending on where you are stood.

Both sides of the covered terracing area are also left completely open for easy access, and so your level of protection from the sides is limited on a matchday. Compared to the level of protection that was previously available at the Holker Street End however, it is a massive improvement.

The Ray Wilkie Stand

The Ray Wilkie Stand consists entirely of standing terrace. There is a large roof that covers the central area of this terracing, but either end of the stand is left uncovered and completely exposed to any wind or rain that is present. There are three rows of blue and white striped metals bars in place for fans to lean on, and right up at the back of the covered terraced area is an elevated platform that holds the matchday camera.

Supporting pillars come down at regular intervals at the front of the roof, and they will restrict your view slightly depending on where you are stood in the covered terracing area. Windshields are also not in place at either end to enable easy access between the covered and uncovered parts of the Ray Wilkie Stand.

The Steelworks End

The Steelworks End consists of a few rows of uncovered standing terrace with a blue and white striped wall in place behind it. The stand however is dominated by the large concrete building that houses Barrow’s Main Reception, Club Offices and the CrossBar. This building additionally houses the stadium’s changing rooms and tunnel, which is part way along the terraced area and therefore divides it into two sections.

Your view from the Steelworks End is perfectly clear, but with no roof or windshields in place, you only have the back wall and concrete building available as means of offering protection from the elements.

The Brian Arrowsmith Main Stand

The Brian Arrowsmith Main Stand consists of a single tier of blue seating with the letters BARROW spelt out in white across this blocks. This covered seating however is not that big, only covering an area roughly one third of the length of the pitch, and it is positioned alongside the half-way line with the football ground’s dugouts located down at the front.

There are three pillars coming down from the blue and white striped roof above, one at either end of the stand and one in the middle, and they are likely to restrict your view slightly if you are sat in the back rows of any seating block.

The Brian Arrowsmith Main Stand additionally has no windshields in place at either end, which can leave the sides exposed to any wind or rain present on a matchday.

Away Fans

Away fans are housed behind the goal in the Holker Street End.

This was once an uncovered terraced area, which swooped round to include both the northeast and southeast corners, but following Barrow’s promotion back into the Football League in 2020, a roof was erected over most of this standing terrace.

A limited number of seats are also available for away fans to use on a matchday.

Whilst the new roof provides a good level of cover from above and behind, the regular supporting pillars in place can potentially restrict your view slightly if you are stood towards the back of the covered area, and both ends are left open to enable easy access.

Where to buy tickets?

Barrow set their ticket prices at £16 for adults in the standing section and £19 for those that wanted a seat. Concessions cost £13 and £15 for the two option. It is a whole pound more expensive if you want to but your ticket on the day, however.

Given that Holker Street doesn’t usually sold out, it’s not difficult to get tickets for the club’s matches. You can buy them online via the club’s official website, though getting them in person from the box office is probably the easiest way to do it.

How to get there?

Holker Street is based on the edge of a commercial and industrial park, around 1.5 miles northwest of the centre of Barrow-in-Furness. The ground has an Asda Superstore located directly to the southwest of it, the Lower Ormsgill Reservoir is around 100 metres away to the northeast, and Craven Park, home to rugby league team Barrow Raiders, is roughly 0.5 miles to the south.

Coming to Holker Street by car is certainly possible.

Barrow AFC offer car parking spaces outside the ground’s southern side, but these are limited in number and cost £2 per vehicle.

Finding free parking within close range of Holker Street is also possible, with residential streets based not far from the football ground to the east and the south. Ensure that you are legally allowed to park on the street you’ve selected though and do not block the drives of residents living there.

It’s also worth noting that despite being used in the past, the ASDA Barrow Superstore directly south of Holker Street has parking eye cameras installed and so will no longer be available for matchday parking.

Fans do however have the opportunity to make use of free parking at Liberata, which is located off Phoenix Road to the southwest of Holker Street. Parking is also possible along Phoenix Road itself.

Barrow-in-Furness Station, served by northern rail, is a short distance southeast of Holker Street and walking from here can take a little under 15 minutes, making it very accessible for those coming by rail.

The Number 3 bus service covers a route that goes from Ormsgill in the north to Newbarns in the east, and the Asda/Holker Street stop will drop you right outside the football ground.

Where to eat and sleep?

Being by the sea as well as right next to the beautiful Lake District, Barrow in Furness is well equipped to cater for tourists. Here are a few places we would be more than happy to stay.

1. OYO Hotel Majestic. The Lake District itself has a wealth of hotel options available to visitors, but if you want to stay quite close to the ground then you’ll do a lot worse than the OYO Hotel Majestic. There are two members of the OYO chain in Barrow, with the Majestic being the more budget friendly. That being said, it still offers free Wi-Fi and has a restaurant and bar. There are only seven rooms, so you’ll need to be quick if you want to nab one of them for a match day.
2. Holiday Inn Express Barrow-in-Furness. Sometimes you just want to know what it is that you’re letting yourself in for and there’s no better way of doing so than by staying in a chain hotel. The Holiday Inn is a decent chain, with the Express variant offering all of the usual amenities but in a more convenient package. There’s free parking, free Wi-Fi and a breakfast included in the cost of your stay. If you need to do some work then there’s a 24-hour Business Centre. With more than 120 rooms available, there’s plenty of options in terms of rooms.
3. Duke of Edinburgh Hotels. Well priced for the standard here, the Duke of Edinburgh is very comfortable and has a cracking bar to boot. It has free Wi-Fi, parking and breakfast included, and also has a restaurant available. There’s a safari zoo down the road too if you want to make a weekend of it.

Cumbria is the home of the Hawkshead brewery among others, and is full of great old pubs as well as more modern options to watch the footy in.

1. Last Orders. Located close to the centre of town, Last Orders is a friendly pub that prides itself on showing as much sport as it can. Guinness, cider and a host of lagers are served behind the bar, to say nothing of soft drinks and spirits. The personable bar staff and cheap prices make this a decent place to head for a pre-match pint or to enjoy some sport after Barrow’s game is all over.
2. The Victoria is one of the main pubs in the centre of Barrow-In-Furness and is part of the Greene King chain. That means that you’ll know what to expect if you’ve ever been to one of the other Greene King’s around the country, which is to say good food and decent drinks at reasonable prices. There’s a beer garden here, plus pool tables and a family friendly environment. On top of that, they’ve got the rights to show sports from most of the major operators, so there’ll be something on the screens pretty much whenever you go.
3. The Bay Horse. A traditional pub that has made improvements over the years to get with the times, you can enjoy a bite to eat in The Bay Horse between noon and 8pm every day of the week. There’s a huge beer garden for those that like to sit outside and soak up the sun, but it’s inside that you’ll need to be if you want to watch some live sport on one of the big screens. In addition to a lovely food menu, The Bay Horse has a solid selection of drinks that really should be enough to satisfy even the most discerning of palettes.

Facilities

The facilities at Holker Street are basic, but in many ways that adds to the stadium’s charm. Obviously, there are toilets for both sexes and places to get a drink, but food is mostly limited to the usual burger van type deal unless you have hospitality tickets.

Holker Street is what one might euphemistically refer to as ‘old-fashioned’, but the hospitality on offer, although not quite what you’d get at a League One of Championship ground, has been improved no end since the clubs’ promotion. They are doing their very best by providing a two course pre-match meal, the option to watch the man of the match ceremony, a match day program, and a complimentary bar.

Having made an effort to pimp out their hospitality areas since returning to the EFL, Holker Street can now be hired for birthday parties, anniversaries, wedding recpetions, and other celebratory such occasions with a bar and function room available. It is also suitable for business hire, so if you need somewhere a little different in the Barrow area it’s a great shout.

Accessibility

There are Assistance Stewards who can provide information and support throughout the match, including providing an ‘at seat’ service and escort duties if necessary.

Disabled visitors can easily access the fanzone for food and drink.

There is an allocation of tickets for supporters in wheelchairs:

• Area A: West Terrace;
• Area B: The Steelworks End.

In addition, they support finding appropriate seating within the Brian Arrowsmith Stand for disabled supporters who are ambulant.

If you want to book a ticket, then you can do so by calling the Club or by emailing.

Disabled fans will pay as per their relevant age category but will be eligible for a free carer’s ticket where required.

There are two entrances supporting disabled access:

• Entrance A: Via the gate just along from Main Reception on Wilkie Road;
• Entrance B: Gate towards the fanzone.

There are three disabled toilets. Two of these are available to fans within the Study Centre and one in the Fan Zone Bar. Both are located near to the two wheelchair areas and are accessible.

They have limited parking in two areas at the stadium that can be booked by e-mailing. Check the map on the club’s website to see which area would be preferable.

History

Previous owned by Furness Railway, the site where Holker Street now stands was a rubbish tip before it was made into a football ground. The jokes for opposition supporters aren’t hard to find, therefore, from the moment that Hindpool Athletic Football Club transformed it into a stadium. Whilst bits of rubbish remained lodged in the pitch for years afterwards, Barrow took on a five-year rent of the stadium from 1909. A wooden all-seater stand was the first physical structure built at the ground, opening in 1912. Soon it was developed into a decent stadium, complete with covered terracing for the supporters to use.

Obviously, the stadium has undergone numerous different improvements since it was first built, with changing rooms, turnstiles and more added over the years. Floodlights were put in in 1963, but by the end of the 1970s the ground had become somewhat dilapidated. The all-seater Main Stand was part of a refurbishment of the venue, opening in 1998. Between 1998 and 2002, there was a long and protracted legal battle between the club and its former chairman, Stephen Vaughan, around the idea of who owned the ground. Eventually it was decided that it belonged to the club, so they began to carry out more improvements to it in the years that followed.