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Home Park
(Plymouth Argyle)
Address: Home Park,
Plymouth,
Devon,
England,
PL2 3DQ
Capacity: 18,600 (All-Seater)
I have huge respect for Plymouth Argyle fans. You don’t fully realise how far this club and their supporters travel every season until you’ve been down to Home Park yourself.
It’s a long, long way to Devon for most football fans, but to come to a place like this makes it so worthwhile.
The site dates back to 1892 and was opened the following year, originally used by the now defunct Devonport Albion Rugby Team until 1898.
The ground remained unused for three years until the Argyle Athletic Club obtained a lease on the ground in 1901. Leaseholder Clarence Spooner was keen for Home Park to stage football and following trial matches with Argyle Football Club which attracted healthy-sized crowds, Spooner established the first professional football club in Devon.
Argyle Football Club became Plymouth Argyle Football Club in 1903 and have played their matches at Home Park ever since.
Plenty of redevelopments have been made to the stadium and the current design is an excellent ground that is perfect for watching football in.
Location and Getting There
Home Park takes it names from the region of Plymouth it is based in, around 1.5 miles north of the City Centre. Heading south of the ground brings you to Central Park, Mutley Park is a little while away to the east, and heading due west eventually brings you to Devonport and the River Tamar.
Plymouth Ferry Terminal, with routes leading to parts of northern France and Spain, is around two miles south of Home Park.
If you are coming to the stadium by car, there are a number of residential streets available that are within a good distance of the ground.
Areas including Ford, Milehouse and Keyham, and North Prospect are west of Home Park, whilst Peverell, Compton, Mannamead and Mutley are to the east.
Plymouth Station is a little over one mile south of Home Park.
It takes around 25 minutes to walk from the station to the stadium, and it’s a very nice scenic route up a hill and through the middle of Central Park, which on a nice day is a very popular place for local residents to relax and spend their weekend. This route will also take you past Plymouth Skate Park and the Plymouth Life Centre before you reach the west side of the stadium.
Outside the Stadium
The West Stand is better known as the Devonport End after the area of Plymouth out beyond it.
The stand’s exterior consists of a brickwork base with green corrugated iron higher up. A banner along the top reads PLYMOUTH ARGYLE - WELCOMES YOU - TO HOME PARK, and a green cantilever roof comes down the stand’s outer wall from the top. You can see the underside of the seating area from out here as well.
Turnstiles into the stand are spread evenly across the brickwork base, and outside of the Devonport Stand is Home Park’s main car park.
Continuing round in a clockwise direction brings you to the North Stand, which is better known as the Lyndhurst Stand and is directly connected to the Devonport End by the northwest corner.
Its exterior design mirrors that of its adjacent neighbour; a brickwork base with green corrugated iron higher up, a green cantilever roof coming down from the top and the underside of the seating area visible from the outside.
Like the Devonport End, turnstiles in the Lyndhurst Stand are spread evenly across the outer wall.
Out beyond the stand is a small staircase leading down to a public footpath, and more of Central Park is out beyond that.
The East Stand is known as the Barn Park End after the local street out beyond it. It is directly connected to the Lyndhurst Stand by the northeast corner and this means that the Barn Park End, Lyndhurst Stand and Devonport End form one continuous bend around three sides of the ground.
The Barn Park End shares the same shape and design of the Devonport End opposite. It has a brickwork base with green corrugated iron higher up, a green cantilever roof coming down from the top and a visible seating area underside.
Turnstiles are spread evenly across the stand’s outer wall.
The South Stand is better known as the Mayflower Grandstand and is the newest part of Home Park. It was under construction when I first came to here for a match, but officially opened for fans part-way through the 2019-20 season.
The stand’s seating area is detached from the rest of the stadium with the southeast and southwest corners left open and leading round to the outer concourse. Most of the Mayflower Grandstand’s exterior is made up of green corrugated iron,
Turnstiles into this stand and concourse are over by the southwest corner and in line with the middle of the exterior. The Plymouth Argyle Ticket Office can be found in place by the southwest turnstiles.
Head over to the southeast corner of Home Park to find the Green Taverners, a two-storey event building that's vert popular with home fans on a matchday. Home Park's changing rooms for players is housed underneath it.
Immediately outside the Mayflower Grandstand is a few rows of car parking spaces.
Inside the Stadium
The Devonport End is made up of a single tier of green seating, with a strip of white seats running across the middle of the stand and around the northwest corner.
The cantilever roof at the top means that there are no supporting pillars in this stand and so your view from any seat in the Devonport End is perfectly clear.
A large windshield is in place next to the open southwest corner but does not cover the front rows. There is just a small wall in place here to protect these seats from the elements.
The Lyndhurst Stand seating area is the same height as the adjacent Devonport End and includes both the northeast and northwest corners.
It is a single tier of green seating with the letters PAFC spelt out in white across the central blocks. A sliver of black seating is also used to give each letter a 3D effect.
There are no supporting pillars coming down because of the cantilever roof above, meaning that your view from anywhere inside the Lyndhurst Stand is perfectly clear and well protected from the elements.
The Barn Park End is an exact carbon-copy of the Devonport End opposite.
It is a single tier of green seating with a strip of white seats running across the middle of the stand and the northeast corner.
Your view from any seat is perfectly clear from any seat in the stand because of the cantilever roof, and over by the southeast corner is a large windshield which covers all but the front rows, with just a small wall in place to keep fans here protected.
The Mayflower Grandstand is divided into two tiers, with the lower tier larger than the upper tier and a row of executive boxes separating the two levels from one another. The letters ARGYLE are spelt out in white across the lower tier blocks, and only a few rows at the back of this tier are covered by the Mayflower Grandstand roof. This roof covers the whole upper tier, which contains mostly green seats but has a large white strip running across the middle of it.
Home Park’s dugouts are based down in front of the lower tier whilst the changing rooms and tunnel are away from the stand in the southeast corner.
Your view from anywhere in the lower tier is perfectly clear, but there are supporting pillars coming down at the front of the upper tier. These do no restrict the view too much if you are in the front rows of this tier, but it will restrict your view when further back.
Large windshields cover every row in the upper tier, whilst the lower tier seats are left completely exposed from the sides.
Away Fans
Away fans are housed behind the goal in the Barn Park End.
Plymouth use stewards and large sheets to segregate the away section from home fans nearby, and the location of these sheets varies depending on how big the travelling crowd is. Small away supports tend to congregate at the back, whilst larger crowds take up the whole section.
You are treated to a perfectly clear view of the pitch from any seat in this away section, with almost all the rows well protected by a windshield next to the stadium's southwest corner.
Matchday Pubs
Pubs available to supporters on a matchday include:
-The Britannia Inn (1 Wolseley Road, PL2 3AA) (A JD Wetherspoon Pub, Home and Discreet Away Supporters)
-The Cherry Tree Pennycross (291 Ham Drive, PL2 3NH) (Away Supporters Welcome)
-The Embassy Club (7 Wolseley Road, PL2 3AA) (Home Supporters Only)
-The Green Taverners (Home Park (An Events Venue in the Southeast Corner of Home Park), PL2 3DQ) (Home Supporters Only)
-The Hyde Park Pub (49 Mutley Plain, PL4 6LG) (Typically Home and Away Supporters)
-The Hyde Park Social Club (5 St Gabriel's Avenue, PL3 4JQ) (Away Supporters Welcome)
Overview
For a lot of fans, the trip to Plymouth Argyle is one of, if not the, longest trip of the entire season. Coming to Home Park for that match though makes all the travelling worthwhile.
It’s set in a beautiful part of the city, with a scenic route to the ground from the centre of Plymouth, and once you reach the stadium you’re met with a very practical design, including a great-looking new Grandstand.
Your view from anywhere on the western, northern or eastern sides of the ground is fantastic, and Home Park can perfectly accommodate both small and large away followings.
This is a really underrated football stadium and not given the credit it deserves as many fans are daunted by the distance away it is from other parts of the country.
Trust me when I say though, you will not regret coming here.
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