AGL 40.40 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (0.5%)
AIRLINK 129.25 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (0.11%)
BOP 6.81 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (3.18%)
CNERGY 4.13 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (2.48%)
DCL 8.73 Increased By ▲ 0.28 (3.31%)
DFML 41.40 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (0.36%)
DGKC 87.75 Increased By ▲ 0.75 (0.86%)
FCCL 33.85 Increased By ▲ 0.50 (1.5%)
FFBL 66.40 Increased By ▲ 0.50 (0.76%)
FFL 10.69 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (1.42%)
HUBC 113.51 Increased By ▲ 2.81 (2.54%)
HUMNL 15.65 Increased By ▲ 0.42 (2.76%)
KEL 4.87 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (1.88%)
KOSM 7.62 Decreased By ▼ -0.21 (-2.68%)
MLCF 43.10 Increased By ▲ 1.20 (2.86%)
NBP 61.50 Increased By ▲ 1.00 (1.65%)
OGDC 192.20 Increased By ▲ 9.40 (5.14%)
PAEL 27.05 Increased By ▲ 1.69 (6.66%)
PIBTL 7.26 Increased By ▲ 1.00 (15.97%)
PPL 150.50 Increased By ▲ 2.69 (1.82%)
PRL 24.96 Increased By ▲ 0.40 (1.63%)
PTC 16.25 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.06%)
SEARL 71.30 Increased By ▲ 0.80 (1.13%)
TELE 7.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.68%)
TOMCL 36.29 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.03%)
TPLP 8.05 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (2.55%)
TREET 16.30 Increased By ▲ 1.00 (6.54%)
TRG 51.56 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-0.27%)
UNITY 27.35 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
WTL 1.27 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (3.25%)
BR100 9,957 Increased By 115.5 (1.17%)
BR30 30,770 Increased By 733.6 (2.44%)
KSE100 93,292 Increased By 771.2 (0.83%)
KSE30 29,017 Increased By 230.5 (0.8%)

The former home of Arsenal, one of England's most historic football clubs, has undergone a remarkable conversion into flats - but their sales have been caught offside by the credit crunch. The final whistle blew on Highbury Stadium in north London on May 6, 2006, ending 93 years of rich football tradition, but the roar of the crowd soon gave way to the noise of diggers as the developers moved in.
Space once filled by 38,000 cheering fans now contains Highbury Square, a complex of 725 luxury apartments - including 70 units of social housing - surrounding a landscaped garden where the old pitch lay. "You feel this could have been completely destroyed, this could have disappeared completely and (yet) there's still enough here to realise that it is a museum of Arsenal Football Club," said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
He returned to the stadium to officially open the development alongside current and former players, including Gael Clichy, George Graham, who also managed the club to two English league titles, and Martin Keown - and admitted the venue still stirred deep emotions in him. "When you come in here, you realise how deep the attachment to this place was," said Wenger, who has managed the Gunners since 1996.
The art deco facades of the East Stand are listed buildings, classified as being architecturally, historically or culturally important and cannot be knocked down. That impeded Arsenal's options for expanding the ground's capacity and in part triggered their departure from Highbury. The new development therefore has preserved the art deco facades bearing the Gunners' crest, as well as the famous Marble Halls inside the East Stand.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009

Comments

Comments are closed.