Luton Town

If you heard this club was founded in 1885 and has been playing at Kenilworth Road since 1905, and then you walked into the place, you’d probably say, “Yeah, that seems about right.” In fact, you would be at the first club in the south of England to go fully professional, in 1891. And no, those seats are not from those days.

Their first glory days were the 1950s, when record goal-scorer Gordon Turner was banging them in and the Hatters were in the First Division. They finished second in 1955 and lost the 1959 FA Cup Final to Nottingham Forest when Turner was out injured. When that team broke up, the Hatters dropped pretty quickly down to the fourth tier.

They climbed slowly back up starting in the 1970s, making the top tier again in the 1980s and beating Arsenal in a 3–2 thriller to win the 1988 League Cup. That year they also made the FA Cup semifinals and were ninth in the league. The next year they made the League Cup Final again but lost to Forest. Some might suggest that their success in these years owed in part to an artificial surface at home (very rare then and now) and the club banning all away fans for a couple of years due to hooliganism.

They climbed to the top tier again in the 2000s, but then a crazy owner left them in administration. Then came the thunderbolt of an FA investigation into illegal payments to players’ agents, which resulted in a 10-point deduction one season and 30 the next—the largest amount in the FA’s history. Although they won the League Trophy in 2009 in front of 40,000 Hatters supporters at Wembley, they dropped out of the Football League days later and spent the next five seasons in what is now the National League.

A Luton Town fan reading the previous paragraph would wish to add layers to this story, and we can all probably agree that, say, Manchester United might not have been docked 40 points for similar infractions. A big sign at home games reads, “Established 1885, Betrayed by the FA 2008.” So let’s assume there’s some deeply held bitterness about all this.

Anyway, they got back to League Two in 2014, then successive promotions in 2018 and 2019 landed them in the Championship. In 2023 they reached the Championship playoff again after finishing third in the league and went on to win the playoffs in penalties over Coventry to secure their promotion to the Premier League.

England was fully worked up over the prospect of the Premier League’s giant clubs coming to Kenilworth Road, and their fans having to enter past someone’s living room. In fact, due to Premier League regulations, the Hatters were required to make £10 million worth of renovations—including a new stand, mainly tohouse updated media facilities—to get Kenilworth Road ready to host Premier League games.

It was all good fun, and they gave it a go, even winning a couple games in the FA Cup. But they were relegated on the last day- and sadly, last season they went down again, back to League One.

2024–25 SEASON: 22nd in the Championship (relegated), 3rd Round FA Cup; 2nd Round League Cup

2025–26 SEASON: League One (relegated in 2025)

It’s all about Watford. The two squared off twice in the 2022–23 season and last season, with each team winning their home games. There was crowd trouble with this one as recently as a 2002 League Cup tie, and a former Watford resident told your author that the whole town shuts down whenever the Hatters are in for a game.

Getting to Know the Luton Town vs Watford Rivalry

The rivalry between Watford and Luton Town, sometimes known as the Beds-Herts Derby, goes back over 100 years and is one of the more bitter derbies in English football. Chances are, though, you don’t know much about it. The two...

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Luton Town Ladies are in the Eastern Region Women’s Football League at tier 7. Home games are at Sharpenhoe Road, the home of Barton Rovers.

As they have risen in recent years, they have taken to singing “Fuck the FA, we’re on our way back.” There are other variations on this regarding the FA and 30 points, and who knows what they sing about Watford!

There was a time when the builders of football grounds and the owners of clubs simply didn’t give a damn about supporters. Fans were fenced in like animals, made to stand on concrete terraces, given almost nothing for toilets, fed garbage, and otherwise neglected—at best.

And then in the 1990s the Powers That Be made the clubs clean up their act, mainly by banning alcohol in the viewing area and making the top clubs replace terraces with seats. At Luton and other places, that directive arrived more like “put in seats,” which Luton did in its 1922(!) Main Stand, apparently in the most minimalist way possible. They put a long metal rack on each level of the terrace, seemingly hit every yard sale on Bedfordshire for any spare slab of plastic they could locate, then pinned it onto the metal racks. Voilà—seating! They even have backs in the multicolored upper tier.

Though they had to build a new stand last season—mainly to expand the media areas—they haven’t spent money on the place because they’ve said for years they were going to replace it. (In fact the stadium’s Wikipedia page says, “Luton Town have been looking for a new ground since 1955.”) So there are posts everywhere, obstructed views galore, chipped paint, and water dripping. It’s awesome, and that is 100 percent not sarcastic. Going to “the Kenny” is both a trip back in time and a commitment to the experience. There are seats in the corner behind a floodlight tower, away fans enter between two flats, the club shop is a shipping container, you have to walk down dark alleys to get around the place, and it’s all right next to a giant motorway. Honestly, go to Kenilworth Road before they replace it, as planned, with something nicer, bigger, and in town. And then for fun, ask any other club’s supporters you meet if they’ve been there.

If you actually want an unobstructed view, go for the Kenilworth Road End; that’s got the rowdy home fans and only two posts. If you want the full old-school experience, go for the lower Main Stand or the home terrace. Sitting in the new stand would, we think, miss the point.

TOURS: Luton Town now offer stadium tours for £15 for adults. For more information visit Luton Town’s website.

GETTING THERE: It’s an easy 20-minute walk from Luton Station. There isn’t a bus line that helps, either.

PUBS: There’s nothing at or near the ground. Right outside the station is the George II, a Greene King outlet. The Bricklayers Arms is a nice, chill choice on a quiet street behind the station. The local Wetherspoon is the giant White House in a mall with a movie theater and bowling alley. The Bear Club is a live music venue focused on jazz and blues.

GRUB: Again, everything is in the center. Aside from the pubs above, check out the “Indian tapas,” which probably just means Indian small plates, at Papa J’s. The Engine calls itself an American diner as well as a “shisha shack and hookah bar,” whatever that means, and it has a giant menu and outdoor seating on Astroturf.

There are a few good options in the old-fashioned Luton Indoor Market as well: Thai, curries, Mongolian, and more.

AROUND TOWN: Here’s a fun game: Say “Luton” to any English person. Their response is almost guaranteed to include the word “shithole.” It’s like a call-and-response thing. But it’s twenty-five miles from London, it has an airport with cheap flights to Europe, and the early signs of gentrification are already in place. Luton is about to boom.

Meanwhile, there are some semi-interesting things to do around town. Over in the Hat District, which is coming back as a creative center, the Hat Factory hosts art shows and dance events, and it has a café. If you’re really into hats, make an appointment online with Philip Wright for a tour and fitting.

There’s also a big carnival in town on the last Saturday in May.

And that’s all we’ve got on Luton. It’s all about Kenilworth Road, honestly.

Going to a Game at Luton Town FC

There’s a funny thing that happens when one says the word “Luton” to English people. Almost as a reflexive response, and virtually without fail, they wince, and one of the words they then say is “shithole.” And that’s just about the...

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